Strange Days
by CRose
Summary: Ranma, Amy Lee, and the Scouts battle a corrupted Saturn and Siefried makes his final move Early chapters have all been given a bit of a check up for grammar and mistakes
1. Strange Days00 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
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Strange Days  
  
Chapter 00  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Amy shuddered as she floated through the ether of space around her,  
  
tears came to her eyes as she recalled the memories of her youth. It was of a time she had hated the most in her long life, of the betrayal of her parents to the years of pain that followed. Just thinking about what happened back then was enough to make her cry. She had been so filled with hate and anger. Everyone that knew her had felt her pain more than once. How she survived the time was still more than a little surprising. Now this had happened, she wasn't even sure how, but she new that after all this time another chapter in her life had started. More pain, more anger, more hate, a never ending circle that never seemed to stop.   
  
The mental and physical torture that she survived had eaten away at her mind like a disease until she snapped. In her youth it had taken her years to over come her fears and mental scaring she had received at the hands of her parents, this was just as bad as what happened them. She had turned to martial arts and spiritual healing to help her deal with the problems they caused to her, it had taken years of pain and sacrifice to rise to her feet again, but she had triumphed over the odds. Now this situation had arisen and brought all those horrid memories back to the for front of her mind, only this time everything that had been done to her had only made her angry, very angry, but she had no one to take her vengeance out on currently.   
  
Her kidnappers must have studied her for a very long time to be able to  
  
hurt her this much, she was practically invulnerable. She tried to look around her cell, but knew instinctively that it was impossible, she could see nothing but black for as far as she could see. They had tossed her in some kind of weird room. She knew that much, but what kind was a bit of a mystery. She had never encountered anything like it before. There were no walls, no floor, no ceiling, just an unending plane of black that stretched on forever.   
  
Even more strange was the fact that she could feel nothing, no pain, no pleasure, nothing but a kind of numbness that filled her body. Pain, it had been a constant friend for as long as she could recall and that made her worry a little, she was Martial Artist and had been studying for years. Whoever had taken her had tortured her for days on end. They had asked few question and some kind of magical shock rod that tapped directly into the neural pathways of the brain to bring out the maximum amount of pain possible every time it hit her skin. When that had failed, after several hours of constant screaming and tears, they had used more primitive means. There were clubs, knives, fists, drugs, and pressure points to try and make her work with them. Had she answered their questions? She didn't know, the pain had gone on for days and days, into what seemed like infinity that her mind had surpassed much of the event.  
  
When they had finished with her 'questioning', they had dragged her bloodied carcass through the halls of her prison and dropped at the feet of a man named Siefried. A monster of inhuman power that was able to take on human form. He, if that term could even be used, had stood over 12 ft high and had enough power to level entire cities if it wanted to. Their kind was just one of the things she was supposed to fight against and she was helpless before it, but her pride would not let it have the satisfaction of seeing her admit defeat. She would go out with her honor intact and her mind free of guilt.  
  
Amy had smirked at him from the floor, he was far to dangerous at the moment. There was nothing she could do about it, but if she lived through this she would have her revenge if at all possible. But right now she was like a bug in its grasp, she had been by the guards for the fun of it and to break her even more, shattered every bone in her body, ruptured organs, and flung at the feet of a monster.  
  
Siefried hasn't even spoken to her as he lifted her off the floor by her neck. Instead all he had done was poke and touch her body in a few places just to cause her more pain, then with an evil smirk he had carelessly tossed her across a dimensional barrier as if he was tossing out the garbage. If Amy had thought her torture was painful before, it was nothing like this, nothing at all. The transfer had been unplanned and meant that she was cut off from the majority of her power as the new dimension forcibly warped her body and mind to suit the new environment.   
  
In the back of Amy's mind she could still feel the presences of her two closest friends, they had worked far beyond the call of duty to try and save her from being killed at the hands of that monster's minion. They had been the first victims of Siefried's attack, since they were a pair  
  
of crystal entities set into the bracers on her arms, they had been nullified and drained of all power in a matter of nano-seconds. They had recovered slightly during her torture and had weakly helped to modulate some of the pain, but they had been powerless to stop Siefried's tortures from doing something even worse than the torture, it had dived into her mind and removed the memory blocks she had placed to protect her mind from fracturing into insanity.  
  
Memory after memory had been ripped from her mind and used to hurt her in even more subtle and evil ways. Tears ran out of Amy's eyes as she again recalled everyone she had ever loved, she watched as they died of old age or were murdered before her eyes. Amy's eyes cracked eye as she suddenly sensed something, she noticed a light nearby, nothing very fantastic, but enough to catch her attention in this depthless black that surrounded her. It was soft blue glow, she reached for it, and found herself gliding toward her goal, her spine screamed in agony as she stretched.   
  
The glow seemed to be a part of the dark mist around her, but it was bright enough for her to just make out the cracked crystals on her arms. This caused more tears to form, Midory, the green crystal on her right arm, must have been in as much pain as she was currently. Crystal entities were very hard to hurt physically, they were rumored to be one of the hardest substances in the know universe. They couldn't die, they just continued to exist eon after eon, bonding with new hosts every now and then for companion ship and a change of pace. The blue crystal on her left arm, Aho, was in a similar condition and in even more pain.  
  
Soothing thoughts from her friends made there way into her brain and she knew that Midory and Aho were still functional. She just needed to find a way out of this place and a powerful source of bio energy source to fuel her powers again. Focusing through the attered remains of her spine was far more painful than she had expected, but she had to do it to survive this. There was no other option to take, she just hoped that some of her natural abilities gained through martial arts were still functioning enough to let her get out of this fix. Her trained senses spread out and instantly latched onto the blue glow as a source of energy. Midory pulsed once as she focused with all her might, nothing happened for a few seconds, then she felt it and screamed...  
  
*********  
  
In another world, just a little jump away, someone else was finding out something he hadn't expected. He was wearing a pair of black kung-fu pants tied at the ankles and a red Chinese shirt and went by the name Saotome Ranma and he had finally been allowed to learn the final techniques of his school and eventually win the right to become a master of Anything Goes Martial Arts. It had taken several beatings of both of them to get them to work with him after the Saffron battle, but he had eventually triumphed. So now he was out here on the side Mt. Fuji being trained in the final Techniques of his school, some of the most dangerous skills ever conceived in any school, according to his idiot father. These were the ones that even the old pervert was afraid of and respected, though he wouldn't admit it, ever.  
  
They had been out here for nearly 2 months since this started and Ranma was getting a little frustrated, he hadn't been shown anything that wasn't just a technique he already knew in a slightly altered form. He had finally gotten the old pervert to really teach him, after yet another beating, and left on one of his panty raids while Oyaji was instructed to demonstrate the Ultimate Technique...  
  
Ranma glared at his old man and launched himself upward and through a series of punches and feints directed at his father as they spared several meters above the camp site. As usual, Ranma seemed to be winning, but his father was beginning to take the upper hand in other areas. Like being able to block anything Ranma could send at him, how this was possible, Ranma wasn't sure. He had been beating the baka Panda for the last few years, whatever it was though, Ranma was secretly pleased. This meant the old man had more to teach him and perhaps the moron wasn't as useless as he feared he was.  
  
Block. Feint. Punch. Dodge and spin before landing for a brief second to smile at his old man, before launching himself back at his father and another attack. Genma, for once, was quiet instead of throwing verbal insults like he usually did in these sparing sessions. It was a little unnerving, so Ranma tried to ignore it and picked up the pace a little, his blurring speed turning into unseen movements.  
  
Genma's eyes narrowed and he did something that he hadn't done in a long time, he exploded into action, 30 ft above the ground. 10 years on the road with Ranma had taught him several things about Ranma, the most noticeable was that he tended to become too complacent with certain situations and he got sloppy. He had tried to break him of the habit, but it had a nasty habit of popping up when least expected. Like right now, Ranma was using predictable fighting techniques, the same ones he always used against him when he though he was on the verge of winning a match. Genma's surprisingly quick attack blasted through his son's defenses, his large fists slamming into the boy with full force, and sent him plummeting into the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of him and cause the ground to crack al around him. It was not unlike Akane's damned mallet attack that was always planting his head through the floor of the Tendo home.  
  
The air exploded out Ranma as he hit, only 10 years of all out fighting with his father allowed him to roll out of the way as Genma landed and punched the ground where he had been, shoving his hole arm into the solid stone beneath. He was back to his feet in an instant and turning towards Ranma and staring at him emotionlessly. Ranma grinned in pain as he came to his feet, it had been awhile since he and the old man had gone at it like this, the dishonorable bastard hadn't been much of a challenge in a long time.   
  
Ranma wasn't sure how far this battle was going to go, but he had a feeling that he was going to be shown this Ultimate Technique that his father disliked so much. The one he had been avoiding for years now. Pushing the battle to the next level, Ranma grasped his Ki and started to glow in a aura that surged around him a halo of blue fire. His concentration was enough to make his aura lift the rocks around himself off the ground and toss them around helplessly. His Ki was also strong enough to cure him of any pain he was feeling from that hit, his breathing soon returned to normal as he powered up even more and smirked.  
  
"Lets see you do that old man!" Ranma shouted.  
  
  
  
Genma scowled and decided to show his worthless son just what his old man could really do, he hadn't trained under Hopposai for no reason. They had been on almost equal footing for years now as he pushed his son harder and harder to master the Art. Genma growled at his son as he took basic crouch and reached for his Ki, it had been years since he had really needed it for a real battle, but this was an all together different matter. He usually only used it for keeping up with Ranma and surviving some of the 'specialized' dangers of the road, but the Master had given his orders and Genma would obey this order.  
  
"Ranma, the old Master may be the ultimate pervert, but he has some of the most fearsome attacks I have ever encountered. Behold the Saotome School of Martial Arts True Final Attack...Ascension of the Dragon God!"  
  
Ranma gasped in shock as Genma's Ki suddenly started to rise at an impossible rate of speed. Within seconds he was glowing orange and there was a dust cloud forming all over the area. Rocks, twigs, and other various items began flying at him from all directions. Using the chestnut fist Ranma blocked most of it from hitting him, but most of all he was staring in awe at the old man. To think that the old lay about could do something to surprise him like this was an amazing feat in itself, maybe he still had things he could teach him after all. (Of course his aura would be orange; Genma was a Glutton after all.)  
  
Genma's Ki attack had drawn in power from all over the area and added it to his own power. This had the curious effect of turning an overweight old man into a buffed up fighting master as his body was forced to adjusted to the sudden increase in power. The fat was gone, in it's place were muscles filled with Ki, Genma had grown at least a foot and was glaring at his son in the most evil manner. His glasses had fallen off and his eyes, normally a deep brown had started to glow a faint orange color.  
  
Sweat was dripping off his chin, a sure sign that he couldn't maintain whatever he had done, in Ranma's opinion anyway. He smirked and nearly laughed at his father doing something like this and nearly exhausting himself before they had even started, but that turned to shock as Genma vanished before his eyes and even his well honed battle senses, this wasn't one of those stupid thieving techniques either. A millisecond later Ranma doubled over in pain as Genma punched him in the stomach, a burst of orange Ki fared around his fist.  
  
"You will learn, Ranma, not to underestimate me in this form. I am ten times more powerful and have access to enough power to level this entire mountain in a single blow." Genma growled.  
  
The blow sent Ranma flying into the air and he watched in shock as his father's aura exploded outward and he actually launched from the ground like a bullet out of a gun. His pain filled mind barely had time to register the fact that his idiot father was flying, only having a second or two to react before his father caught up with him. In an instant Ranma shock turned to delight as he reached deep within himself and located the strength that he had used to fight Saffron over a year ago.   
  
For the first time in years he was actually using his full strength against his father, he had almost given up hope of the old idiot ever showing him something new again. They swung at each other and sent shock waves across the area. Trees began to shake as the super powered Martial Artists commenced to beat the crap out of each other. This was something that Ranma loved, a great battle, a chance to learn new techniques, and to show his Oyaji that he wasn't as weak as the thought he was.  
  
Neither of them noticed the world around them as they taunted each other and fought with a new level of power and respect. Neither of them cared that they were affecting the weather patterns. Ranma was still smiling as he enjoyed a fight with his old man for the first time in nearly 3 years. Though in the back of his mind he wondered why it had taken so long for the old man to pull his head out of his ass and start training him seriously again. Ranma shrugged it off and enjoyed the fight, there was a pattern to Oyagi's aura that he was beginning to copy instinctively and he could feel his power growing even as they tried to kill each other.  
  
*********  
  
Genma was feeling a number of emotions that he hadn't felt in years either, exhilaration was the most notable one, then came pride, in himself and his son, then fear and shock at what he had done. Over the last half hour he had been tearing into Ranma like a man possessed and watched in pride as his son went to his knees, only to stand back up, smile, and continue the fight. Long ago when The Master had given him the scroll that detailed how to draw Ki directly out of the environment and add it to one's own Ki all those years ago, Genma had horded the knowledge like one possessed, not even his friend Soun had known about this. It had taken almost 18 months of practice and intense training to perfect even the most basic aspects of this powerful technique.  
  
He noticed that his son was fighting him at ever increasing levels of power. Slowly altering his own Ki to match his own as they fought. His son could learn new techniques just by watching them in action and trying to puzzle his way through them. He had a genius for Martial arts that went way beyond even a gifted fighter such as himself. Ranma's aura was growing and his focus was growing stronger and stronger, his muscle definition was more distinct as the extra power was added to his natural attributes. Even his normally blue eyes were beginning to light up with power. Genma flared his Ki into a new pattern and watched Ranma copy it before picking up the pace of the fight and slamming into the boy's defenses without mercy.  
  
As their sparring picked up pace as Ranma counter attacked and copied what his father was showing him, he barely noticed as energy used to block his father exploded out and a nearby tree simply detonated into billions of small pieces of shrapnel splinters. Although neither one of then even noticed this because they were already several hundred blows into their fight. They were slowly accelerating to ever higher levels of speed and determination. Ranma's blood was singing in ecstasy as they fought, he loved every minute of it. This was what Martial Arts was all about!  
  
High above them the clouds were being affected by the high intensity energy being put out by both fighters, the weather being affected for miles around. Small sparks of lightning formed and arced from cloud to cloud as they darkened at an amazing speed. They rumbled and shook, growing bigger and darker by the minute as they formed into a storm front of massive proportions. Neither Ranma nor Genma were powerful enough to push the clouds away, not yet any way, but they were strong enough to affect their environment on a massive scale.  
  
Then it happened, a massive bolt of lightning lanced down and split apart a tree several hundred yards from here Ranma and Genma were fighting, the clap of thunder startled Ranma and Genma and they flared up to protect themselves from an un expected attack. This had an unexpected effect, one that saved their lives, but they didn't know that. All their energy flared out of control, was grabbed by some invisible force, and sucked out of them in an instant. They blinked in surprise as they fell out of the air landed on the ground of the slightly devastated forest glen.   
  
Thunder and lightning rolled over the area. They looked up and saw a blue light of some kind forming with in the clouds to the west of them, it slowly grew in size and brightness until a good portion of the sky was glowing. Then like a cannon shot, a blue bolt of power shot out of the clouds, and impacted the side of a nearby hill with a blinding flash of light.  
  
Sounds seemed to vanish in an instant and the world went bright blue as enough energy to equal a half kiloton bomb rose into the atmosphere and spread over the area like the wrath of god. Ranma and Genma barely had time to do much of anything before the shock wave hit them and rolled over the area. Trees were up rooted and the very ground seemed to turn into water as it flowed and heaved under the stress of the impact. Wood, dirt, even animals fell from the sky and rained down on every thing within a mile of the impact, Ranma dove for cover while Genma bellowed in fear as a number of trees fell out of the sky to land around his cowering form. Thought vanished as survival took over...  
  
*********  
  
The Youma was nearly 12ft tall and had pink skin, bone like scales, and was vaguely female. It was somewhat pretty, but had evil eyes that looked right into ones soul. It stood above the remains of the cotton candy cart and wondered briefly why this particular item had been chosen  
  
as a template for it to occupy. After several seconds of blushing in mortification, it shrugged and decided that it had a job to do. It would have a little talk with its master later about proper kinds of host bodies.  
  
Looking around at the shocked faces of those around the carnival, it decided to work quickly, its master didn't seem to be around and that meant that it was on its own. It was programmed to handle this situation and make its own decisions so long as it took the time to do what was sent out to do. Holding out a pink hand, with manicured fingernails no less, it started to fire off a number of energy spheres that impacted in the dirt at the feet of it's nearest selected targets. They screamed as their life energies were removed and quickly sucked up and stored within its body. For everyone live that it took its power seemed to increase, it moved away from the cart and started picking the panicking people off at random.  
  
It cursed to itself when it realized that it had no way to send the collected energy back to its master an creator. It would need to drain at least 100 humans before it had enough to open a portal home and transfer the stolen bio-energy. Looking around for the fastest way to do this, it spotted the main tent and grinned as it detected the life energies of nearly 400 humans. Its Master would be pleased with his work. They were already just sitting there waiting to be drained. All too easy, for a pink skinned monster that looked 'cute', him and the master were really going to have little chat about this when he got back.  
  
As it walked towards the tent, it continued to fire off the random shot and drain a human here and there while all of its attention was focused on the tent. As it reached the main entrance, it stepped in side, looked around, and grinned evilly (something really hard to do as a large pink colored girl with nice finger nails). So many humans just sitting in seats designed to hold them in place, even if they panicked and started to run they wouldn't get too far, they were pinned in and at its mercy. It's arms came up and fired out hundreds of shots and the humans were panicking instantly, it didn't care. The bio-energy was being sucked up almost like water and it knew that within a few moments...  
  
"Stop right there creep!" Yelled a female voice from behind it.  
  
Turning around it spotted 5 girls in bathing suits and really short skirts. The pink monster saw this and started to snicker and soon fell the ground laughing its head off, it had heard that it would be in serious danger if the scouts showed up, but if this was them it...was the most ridiculous thing it had ever seen. It continued to laugh as all 5 girls sweat dropped and started to give off battle auras they realized that this monster was laughing at them, loudly!  
  
"Stop laughing!" One of them yelled.  
  
"I a-always wanted m-my own ch-chearleader squad!!" Pinky said and giggled some more.  
  
The girl's screamed, raised their arms and yelled some stupid phrases and launched a massive magical attack. The giant pink monster was laughing to hard to react and died laughing at its foes. It exploded into dust and vanished almost instantly, this released all the stored up energy and sent it back to those it had stolen it from. It was a bad day to possess a roll of cotton candy and steal energy this day.  
  
Satisfied with their kill the Scouts took some time to calm the crowd down before they ran off. The police showed up a little later, but all they could find was a number of people passed out and a crowd of on lookers that were all talking about the Sailor Scouts again. Getting information was impossible since they were just urban legends and they had no proof one way or the other that they had actually been there. At least that was what the police told themselves back at the police station. When the Sailor Scouts had shown up a few years back the crime rate in Juban had dropped twenty percent. Those girls worked better than a neighborhood watch.   
  
*********  
  
The endless white plane of mist and smoke surrounded the tall stone doorway. This door was nearly 20 ft high and made of the purest quality marble and looked as new as the day it had been created. When this was is a bit of a mystery since the door itself sat outside the passage of time, forever immune to its power. This door had stood on this endless plane for untold centuries, nothing was connected to it in any way. You could walk around it in less than a minute, and yet it was one of the most powerful magical artifacts ever created. To most people, if they could get here in the first place.  
  
It was just a large stone door placed in the middle of nowhere; unless one had the key that is. Then this impressive stone door covered in carvings and symbols could be turned into the most magical devices in existence, so powerful that it could affect the very nature of the universe for good and evil. It was simply called the 'Time Gate' and had been used for centuries by the last remaining survivors of the Moon Kingdom in an attempt to save their lives and history from total destruction.  
  
At least that is what they had told themselves in the beginning anyway, over time things had changed a little, subtle shifts that no one noticed or cared about. In the last hours of the Moon Kingdom's life, it's dieing Queen had sent the souls of her beloved people into the time stream to be reborn upon the Earth below, into happier times. (Everyone knows this story!) The last surviving member of this kingdom had been chosen to guard the Time Gate from those wishing to use it for evil. This woman had stood here in front of the gate for thousands of years, alone. She had gained a type of immortality by living outside of time to guard the Time Gate.  
  
This was a bad thing for someone who was originally mortal. Immortality can weigh one down even more than duty. Duty, that was this guardian's other curse, she was so weighed down by both that she had eventually broken under the massive strain. It didn't show physically or even mentally, but she wasn't quite normal anymore. She had given that up so that she could stay true to her oath of office and to her dead Queen. Now it was her duty to perform and she had spent centuries doing it without complaint. To guide the souls of those sent forward out of the time stream and to be reborn in the here and now, it had taken over 10,000 years and most of her humanity to do it. The crushing weight of loneliness had shattered her to the point that nothing was left but her duty.   
  
10,000 years is a long time to be alone. Her name was Setsuna or Sailor Pluto and she had been forced to stand on this empty plain for as long as she could remember. There was noting but her and the door, no radio, no TV, nothing but her, the door, and an endless plain of mist and shadow for as far as she could see. The novelty of the job had worn off in about ten minutes. Then it was time to get out the deck of cards and have a rousing game of solitaire. She stood over 6ft tall, had the body of a Super Model, had red eyes, dark skin, super long dark green hair, and had an air of power around her that could be felt at a distance. She was also the poster child for the most bored woman on earth.   
  
Luckily she had the key to the Time Door to play around with. This had allowed her to watch events in history like a large TV. Not as good as the real thing though. She had watched all the wars, sub plots, and assassinations several times over. Gazed upon the world and watched as countries formed though slaughter and guile and eventually collapsed. Learned all that history had to offer and even broken some of her rules to meet certain people through out mankind's history. She had done this to keep from going insane from loneliness. The Time Gate was her friend, her entire existence. So long as she continued to think like that everything had worked perfectly, but not in the way she realized. She was too close to the source of her torment.  
  
Sailor Pluto smiled as she watched her princess battling her way through the new enemy's Youma. She looked magnificent, daring, and breathtaking to the eye in her form fitting fuku. Behind her, watching from the shadows was her protector, Tuxedo Mask (what a ridiculous name, she thought). The fight was going about normal. Her princess was a total klutz and was tripping and falling her way through the battle with a strange kind of luck.   
  
She had watched this happen hundreds of times as they fought and defeated the evil Queen Beryl, the Doom Tree, and several others. Each fight had been worse than the last, more dangerous and the price for victory was far to high. Then some thing caught Pluto's attention and looked up as she sent her magical senses out into the featureless void around her, they picked up on something, something wrong or out of phase.  
  
She looked around, it felt like an attack of some kind, and yet she could see nothing out of place, just fog and silence. Her time senses were looking into the possible futures when she saw a possibility, then she screamed in agony and grabbed her head her time sense flew out of control. The giant time key staff flared with energy as she staggered around. She barely noticed when the Time Gate slammed shut with a creaking shudder. The echoes reverberating over the misty landscape like a death knell. Sailor Pluto screamed again and fell to her knees, with a loud moan she fell over and passed out from pain, her Sailor fuku shimmered and vanished as she lay there naked, twitching in agony...the foggy plane shifting and rumbling for several seconds in the throes of an earthquake. Or in this case a time quake.  
  
*********  
  
In the bay area of Tokyo a rather weird looking monster made up of pieces of baby toys was giggling quietly as it channeled it's newly collected energies to it's Master. It had been able to get more energy than it knew what to do with, sucking the energy out the kids in a toy store without draining them dry. It had sensed that Pinky, formed out of a large wad of pink cotton candy at an amusement park or something on the other side of Tokyo, had fulfilled its purpose just as it was designed to do. Distract the Scouts as several other parties collected energy from other sources quietly. Tiny amounts of energy went undetected as the large ones were dealt with, it wouldn't work for long, but it would net them huge amounts of energy over the next few weeks. That was more than enough time to do what they needed and then the Scouts would be taken care of.  
  
*********  
  
The debris shifted and collapsed to the side as Ranma stood up unsteadily and looked around in shock at the devastation around, everything was almost completely unrecognizable. The entire side of the mountain had been laid to waste, dust and smoke were filling the air around him making it almost impossible to see, but he could see a large fire raging away in the distance, further up the mountain. Shaking his head, he wondered if anyone else was in danger because of this. He concentrated and sent his senses out and tried to look for any signs of life, at first he could find nothing. Then he got 4 distinctive life force signatures. They were two several miles away he could feel them heading in this direction, but they were still healthy. The third was nearby and he recognized it as his father, he was unconscious a few yards away, buried like he had been.  
  
The fourth one though was barely registering, it seemed on the verge of death, he paled as he realized that the life sign was coming from where the impact had originated from. Ranma didn't even think as he started to run and hop his way up the devastated hill. The Ki signature was fluctuating wildly and he knew that this was serious. Ki did not fluctuate like this unless someone was dieing. He moved with amazing speed and easily launched himself over obstacles that would have stopped anyone else or completely destroying what ever was in his path. It only took a few minutes for him to arrive at the crater and he gasped as he saw the quarter mile wide hole where the small foot hill had been a short while ago. His senses were scanning wildly, guiding him right to where he needed to be. Several hundred feet from the center of the impact crater was a body, Ranma ran over and knelt down to exam it.  
  
His mind quickly tallied all the needed information for him. The body was female, early 20's, red hair the same color of his girl side, her clothing burnt to shreds around her, massive scaring all across her body, multiple broken bones, laying a growing pool of blood, silver bracers on her forearms, each one inset with a different colored crystal. There was a Green crystal on the right bracer, and a Blue crystal on the left. Both crystals were cracked and glowing faintly.  
  
"Son-In-Law? What are you dong here?" Asked a voice from behind him.  
  
Ranma spun around into a combat crouch, but he relaxed a little as he noticed that it was only Cologne and Shampoo. "You two must be the two that I sensed heading in this direction a little while ago."  
  
"What happened here Son-In-Law?"  
  
"I'm not sure, a meteor or something hit the mountain, this girls seems to have been caught up in the after math of the strike."  
  
Cologne was hopping down the slope and making her way over to him as he turned back around. He pulled his shirt off and pulled a canteen of water out of nowhere and set to work cleaning the girl's injuries as efficiently as he could. Cologne took several seconds to look the girl over before she joined him, binding her wounds by ripping his shirt into strips an wrapping them carefully. The old woman was surprised to note that Ranma didn't seem to be all that nervous around them like he usually was, but shrugged it off. He had always been hard to read, though at times really predictable.  
  
Shampoo watched carefully and felt a quick surge of anger as she saw Ranma touching the naked girl, but then she took note all the blood an decided she was being silly. She hurriedly bounced over several logs and dropped her pack beside Ranma as she quickly pulled out several items to help Ranma with cleaning the injured girl's wounds. Cologne found that she could only stare at this strange girl's body as she worked, she could feel the girl's Ki fluctuating all over the place and knew that she was fighting death to stay alive. Though it had been some time since she had seen a Ki signature quite like this one, it showed incredible power and experience. It was also obvious that the girl was fighting to stay alive with all her might, she seemed to have a will of iron if she could do this while unconscious.  
  
"Shampoo, go and collect the materials for a litter, we will have to move the girl here out of the area. There is something about her that is activating my danger sense, even in this state and that is very puzzling."  
  
"Yes Great Grand Mother." Shampoo said and ran off.  
  
They worked for the next few hours, quickly sewing up wounds, using pressure points, lending her their Ki, and bandaging her wounds as best they could. Ranma explained to Cologne what had been going on as he and Genma were training, not mentioning just how they were running at such strong levels. Cologne decided that she would not bring up the subject since they had obviously been training in their schools secret techniques, but they would talk later about what they had been doing.   
  
Shampoo had all but given up hope of ever capturing him after the incident with Saffron and her enslavement by Kima. For old times sake and fun she glomped him as soon as is guard was down and nuzzled his ear before giggling and squeezing him somewhere she shouldn't have. Sweat popped out on his head and he began to panic, then it happened as if by fate, pouring rain came out of nowhere and drenched everyone. Ranma shivered as the curse changed his sex and she screamed as Shampoo went from beautiful sex goddess and turned into a real sex kitten. 0 to 180mph in 2 seconds flat, Ranma vanished from sight screaming in moral terror, Shampoo hanging on out of sheer maliciousness and a broken heart. She didn't want to give him up, but even her great grandmother was telling her to pack it in.  
  
Laughing out loud, Cologne turned back to the girl and noticed something out of place. She couldn't quite put her finger on what it was though. Watching for several seconds produced the answer and her eyes tripled in size. She leaned in close and watched as the scars along the girls face slowly closed, sealed into scars, and then vanished, leaving perfectly healthy skin behind. Moving down the girl's body, Cologne could see that the broken leg had reset itself when she was watching Ranma and Shampoo, and the process was slowly spreading through out the girl's body as she watched.   
  
A collapsed lung healed and filled with air, her shattered spine pulled itself back into place and stiffened, broken ribs popped back into position, and crushed finger joints seemed to just reform from thin air. The process lasted for hours as she watched, she didn't even notice, never had she heard of a healing ability like this. How was she doing it? Was it a Ki technique she had never heard of before? What was she if it wasn't?  
  
Ranma, after running all over the area at an insane pace, finally lost Shampoo-cat and calmed down as she made her way back to where she had left Cologne and the injured girl. She saw the old ghoul just sitting there looking at the naked girl, a strange look on her face. As Ranma got closer she took a closer look at the injured girl and sighed when she noted that she wasn't as hurt as she had thought. Cologne nearly jumped out of her robe as she jumped back in surprise, she grabbed her heart and gasped for air in shock. Ranma fell to the ground laughing hysterically, it was the funniest thing she had ever seen when dealing with Old Ghoul.  
  
Of course she stopped laughing when Cologne thumped her over the head with her staff to quiet her down.  
  
"What'ja do that for you old ghoul? I was just laughing..."  
  
"Look at our girl here Son-In-Law, what do you see?"  
  
She looked down and confirmed what she had noted earlier. "She wasn't as hurt as I thought she was, now we can move her out of the area."  
  
"You saw what she looked like, look at her face. Where are her scars, look at her broken leg, it simply vanished. Can you explain that Son-in-Law?"  
  
"Hey, your right, what happened to all the scars..........I ain't your son in law, Old Ghoul!" Ranma yelled back as he realized what the old bat had called her again.  
  
"They vanished even as I watched over her, the bones reset themselves silently, her burnt skin healed and turned into healthy skin. I think that by the time the sun goes down she will be on her feet and perfectly healed. I'm not sure what is going on, but I plan to find out, I have never known anyone that could survive that kind of damage and survive, let alone heal themselves back to perfect heath in less than a day. Especially spinal cord injuries, I have never known of anyone that could heal those while they were unconscious."  
  
"I'll take your word for it then, I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"To get my back pack, salvage my camping gear, and dig Oyaji out of that hole he's stuck in. I had thought that with that technique he was showing me that he would have dug himself out by now, but he must have passed out for some reason so I have to dig him out instead, the baka. Also, when she wakes up, she is probably going to want to wear some clothing and I always carry a couple extra sets with me cause of the curse." Ranma said as she launched into the air and bounded away over the fallen trees.  
  
Cologne was glad the boy wasn't there to see her blush in embarrassment as she realized that she hadn't even thought to cover the girl up. With her body healing itself, she could now see that she was a very beautiful young girl too, perhaps enough to temp the boy if she wasn't careful. She had perfect skin, hair as red as Ranma's female half and in a style quite like that Tendo sister, Nabiki.   
  
She had absolutely no body fat and a lightly defined muscle structure, about the only flaw she could see was that she had small breasts and even those seemed to be perfect for the girl's body type. Beyond that everything looked perfect, and Son-In-Law had been ogling her for hours now...sigh. Reaching into her sleeve, Cologne pulled out a small blanket and laid it over the pretty girl and wondered when or if she would awaken.  
  
To be continued... 


	2. Strange Days01 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 01  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Amy's eyes fluttered open and she took a deep breath and tensed for the pain that had been a constant in her life for sometime now. To her surprise it didn't hurt, that meant that her body had finally healed itself, something that the constant beatings she had endured had been used to keep her in line. She steadied herself both mentally and physically and wondered where she was. She could remember the pain of crossing a second dimensional barrier, again with out doing it the proper way, and blacking out from the pain. She vaguely remembered some kind of blue light that had drawn her in, and even more pain, but by that time her body had simply given up and couldn't make it hurt any more than it already had.  
  
Looking up she spotted some trees all around her, stars in the sky, and the sound of life all around her. She sighed in relief, stars meant that there was sunlight available and the ground beneath her meant a planet, hopefully she was safe enough for now and that no one would be playing anymore more tricks on her. There had been enough pain in her life of late, she didn't need anymore. She stiffened and had to hold back the tears as she recalled what she had gone through to get here, what she had gained and lost to survive her ordeal with Siefried, something she wanted to forget completely. The price of survival had almost been her sanity. All of her memories were back, over 2000 years of world hopping in search of entertainment, fun, duty and so much pain.   
  
Since no one, including her knew where she was, she was going to take a vacation and relax a little since she had more than earned a little break after all that. She looked within herself for Midory and Aho, her crystal friends. It took a few minutes, but she found a trace of them buried deep within her mind. They were almost dead and barely had enough power left to stay alive, a state that sentient crystals were rarely ever in. They were nearly indestructible, but it could be done and Amy was going to make sure her friends survived this. She sent her senses out and gathered a little life energy from some nearby plant life, not enough to kill anything, just tiny amount here and there and fed it to her friends. They communicated their thanks and she told them to go to sleep and recover as she collected a little more and finished healing her own body.  
  
Feeling the last of her aches and pains finally fade away, she sat up slowly and found that she was naked and dirty, but covered in a blanket. Looking around she noticed that she was laid out on a thin sleeping bag at the edge of a small camp. There was an old woman sitting nearby, she was asleep and leaning forward, there where light snores coming from her. On the other side of the fire was a young girl of maybe 16 or 17 sleeping peacefully. She looked like a super model and Amy was instantly in full lust mode. She shook her head and cursed her training in the Sexual Martial Arts. Once one's body was trained to do something like that, it didn't want to forget the intense pleasures that had been available at the time, at least not hers.  
  
To her left was a large tent with a large form's feet sticking out and smaller form lying next to it. Amy wondered to herself if she was in any more danger, it didn't feel like it and she was healed enough to at least make a run for it if anything did happen. Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly felt a change in the surroundings and looked back at the old woman she had noted earlier, her eyes were no longer closed, but staring at her as if assessing something. The look on the old woman's face was enough to make Amy start to giggle. She had never seen anything like it before.  
  
"Humph, let's see you stay up for over 48 hours straight at my age."  
  
"You're Japanese? What in the world am I doing Japan?" Amy replied in the same language.  
  
"Oh? Where are you from then if not Japan?"  
  
"The last place I remember being was my home in Scotland." Amy lied.  
  
"Scotland?! You are a long way from home aren't you?"  
  
"Yes I am, though bits and pieces of my memory are beginning to come back to me. If what I think happened, did, then I am in more trouble than I thought."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"It's a bit difficult to explain unless you know about alternate dimensions and the possible ways to move between them." Amy said quietly.  
  
"Alternate dimensions? Moving between them? Like the Na Ban Mirror?"  
  
Amy gave the old woman a startled look and grinned as she vaguely recalled that the Na Ban Mirror could be used to cross time lines. "Maybe you will understand then. I am known as a Guardian or Planet Guardian. I live in an alternate dimension and have a job that lets me move from one world to another whenever I am needed to protect things. I am usually dispatched to handle threats to realities that can not protect themselves or those that are on the verge of collapse due to unexpected happenings.   
  
This has made me a number of powerful enemies and my being here is, I think, because of one of them. Sigh. If I remember correctly, I got careless, and let my defenses down at the wrong time. I was captured, tortured, and then tossed into a dimension that had been 'sterilized' or made into nothingness. Somehow I seem to have managed to find my way here even though I was barely conscious at the time. That's the short version. I'll have to put some thought into the full version so that I can piece everything together." Amy said.  
  
"That's quite a story and I find it a little hard to believe, still I'll give you the benefit of doubt for now. Your healing ability does sway what you have said though. How could you have survived so much damage and lived, even because of what you are?"  
  
Amy frowned and looked away. "My blessing, my curse, my greatest mistake..."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I did something once that ended up having a strange side effect. This effect made me effectively immortal, I can not die. Period."  
  
"Immortal, huh, I can sympathize a little. I am over 300 years old and there is probably another 1 or 2 hundred left in me if I manage things right."  
  
"Really? I have rarely run across anyone that can live past a hundred and by then they are already on the verge of death. It must be something in this world that makes that possible. You wouldn't happen to know what dimension I am in do you?"  
  
Cologne laughed, "Not a clue. Is there anyway you can tell by looking or sending out some kind of locater?"  
  
"No, most dimensions are split into categories. Each one is distinguished by a kind of people or a kind of event. Those are then further split down into numbered dimensions, we have a super powerful computer back home keeping track of everything usually."  
  
"I have no idea then..."  
  
"Is this world famous for something, a certain group of fighters, or a giant space battle, anything along those lines?"  
  
"Not that I can think of..."  
  
"Drat! Hey, there wouldn't happen to be any clothing around here would there? Sitting around naked doesn't bother me all that much, but I just noticed that there a 2 'guys' in that tent and I don't want them to see me like this."  
  
"It's too late for that." Cologne laughed quietly. She reached behind her and tossed a small bundle at Amy.  
  
"Anticipating my needs, huh? Well that's cool. It makes maters easier I guess."  
  
Amy muttered as she unrolled the clothing and got dressed. The pants were black silk and fairly thick. She grabbed the black cotton muscle shirt and wondered just who these belonged to, at least it covered most of her breasts, she was glad they were small or they would have been hanging out over the sides. Though without a bra they were going to wiggle all over the place, but it wasn't as if she hadn't dealt with that before.   
  
The final piece of clothing was a shirt, a dark red silk with a mean looking dragon woven into the front and back looking like it was about to flame something. It was more of a coat than a shirt, but it was all very comfortable and a little like her usual uniform, only without the armored under jacket. As she dressed, she could feel this nagging thought trying to grab her attention. Some little piece of information she had seen, but failed to notice. The old woman was watching her quietly as she dressed. The more she tried to ignore the strange feeling, the more persistent it became.  
  
"You know, I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Amy Lee."  
  
"Hello Amy Lee, you can call me Elder Cologne ..."  
  
Amy blinked, gasped and froze in place like a statue as thousands of bits of information started to trickle into her mind. Then she pieces together all the little clues, the old woman that looked like a cross between a prune and a deformed monkey. She knew where she was and if she was right it was going to cause tons of problems. That was as far as she got before her mind shut down again. Cologne stood up and walked over to Amy and nudged her with her staff.  
  
She crumpled to the ground in a dead faint.   
  
This so called immortal girl was going to be very interesting indeed, Cologne thought to herself and cackled to herself as she went back to stoke the fire back up. She would see what the next few days brought, the last few months had been getting boring anyway and it was time for the next adventure anyway.  
  
*********  
  
The sacred fire roared as Rei Hino, miko and guardian of the Hikawa Temple in Juban tossed some more wood on the fire, she was wearing her usual priestess robes and had her hair tied back with a small cord to keep it from being burned by the intense flames. There was something odd going out in the world tonight and she wanted to know what it was before something happened. Getting into position, she took her seat and began to calm her sprit and raise her Ki.   
  
After several minutes she started to chant and gesture with her hands and pushed her Ki into the fire making it jump and flare up to the ceiling in its power. She had done this hundreds of times over the last few years and knew when to alter her Ki so that it could be used by the flame to form visions of the future. Continuing to chant, Rei went into a deep trance and watched as the flames seemed to waver and change...  
  
...The red haired demon was covered in blood as it turned toward them and giggled insanely. In its left hand was the bloodied remains of one of the scouts, she couldn't tell whom. The demon swirled with stolen energy and an aura of power seemed to burst forth and mix with the sacred flame. The picture itself was disturbing, but the feelings that went with it were too horrible to comprehend. Rei shivered and tried to remain calm, but she cried out and collapsed in fear and anger as she watched the demon eviscerate Usagi and giggle about it.   
  
It had to be the most frightening thing she had ever seen in one of her fire readings. It was a human, that much was obvious, but beyond that its actions could only be described as demonic...but something was out of place. What it was she had no idea, just that she wasn't seeing things in the right perspective. These were soon dismissed as her fear was intensified a hundred fold...  
  
Crying, Rei scrambled back and let the vision go. Tears poured down her face and she failed to see the air around her waver and one of the symbols on the wall change, the paint on the walls went from plain white to a dark gray, having absorbed the smoke of generations as the Sacred Fire burned eternally. Screaming could be heard in the back round as if coming from far away as the last of the vision swirled into nothingness, Rei shivered. Even Galaxia hadn't brought visions like this and she had killed the entire population of Tokyo. This felt worse...   
  
*********  
  
"Master?" The man called out as he entered the smoke filled chamber.  
  
The room was massive, almost to big to describe. But if one looked, they wouldn't have been able to see any of the walls in the room. They were lost in the smoke filled gloom. The only thing that one could see were stone columns that rose far into the smoke filled heavens as if holding up the sky itself. In the middle of the room was a desk made of stone and covered in piles and piles of paperwork, an ancient computer, and a filing cabinet over flowing with files of one kind or another.   
  
For some reason there was an old type Tommy Gun from the 1920's America laying on top of the filing cabinet with a couple of drum refills. Behind the desk was a wrinkled old man dressed in a dust gray suit, a black tie, and a Cleveland Braves baseball cap. He was ancient looking and was puffing on a cigar.  
  
"Have you managed to collect any information on the anomaly?" The old man said, his lips didn't move and he didn't look up at his visitor.  
  
"No Master, I sent out a couple of the seedlings to gather energy while I devised a proper plan."  
  
"How much did you get?"  
  
"Quite a bit actually, I distracted the Scouts with one of the regular soldiers while 10 others siphoned off small amounts of energy from large groups of humans at the local amusement park. We got back 20 times as much as the operation cost so we are well in the black."  
  
"Excellent. Send out on of the Guard and have them collect the gems we need for the next phase of the operation."  
  
"Of course Master."  
  
"Be on your guard Zephyr, we are just another group of enemies for the Scouts and they beat Galaxia. I will not tolerate failure. We will be careful and take this slowly. Do you understand? The others all tried to overpower the Scouts. We defeat them by more subtle means."  
  
"Of course, I have already taken Galaxia's mistakes into account and studied the previous attempts to take this world. I believe I have come up with a full proof plan to defeat the Scouts and any allies they may come up with while we are here."  
  
"Do not forget about the anomaly Zephyr, it has caused a major dimensional shift and incapacitated the Guardian of Time. We have a very delicate window of opportunity to work our plans into place before she recovers."  
  
"That occurred to me Master and I sent one of the 'host' warriors to take care of her while she is down, but it will take several days for him to reach the gate since he has to travel all the way to Pluto to gain access to the physical entrance of the Time Gate."  
  
"What is his power level?"  
  
"1200 Master."  
  
"What makes you think that will be enough to take out the Guardian of Time?"  
  
"She is incapacitated and helpless, it should be more than enough Master."  
  
"We shall see, do not fail in this, we can not afford to make mistakes while we are this vulnerable to attack."  
  
"I will do my best Master." Zephyr said and vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
*********  
  
Groaning, Amy sits up and realizes that she had fainted upon hearing the old woman's name. This outfit belongs to Saotome Ranma, I just know it, she thought to herself. I can't believe I'm in one of the Ranma dimensions. They are on limited access to all outsiders because of the delicate balance needed maintain the world...  
  
"Are you alright?" Asked Cologne.  
  
"You said your name was Cologne or Kon Lon?"  
  
Cologne's head snaps up as she hears her name said in Chinese. "Yes."  
  
"And these clothes belong to...Ranma?  
  
"He's asleep in that tent over there. How do you know of us? Wait a minute. You said you identified your dimensions by certain people or incidents. Are you saying we are the people who identify this particular dimension?"  
  
"Yes, mostly Ranma though, his abilities and fights are what we use to identify this dimension. Even worse, because of the precarious balance needed to keep the Ranma dimensions together, I need to leave as soon as possible. My very presence could have already caused major havoc with way things should go. This is bad, very bad..." Amy said nervously.  
  
"You should try not to worry about it all that much Amy Lee. If the damage has been done, it was when you entered into this world. You did level the side of an entire mountain you know. We'll deal with things as we go along, hopefully we will have a bit of luck and things won't change all that much."   
  
"I'll probably know within a few hours actually."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
"The Kami of each dimension are there to maintain the balance. Depending on how they work, they'll erase me, kill me, or make me fix the damage somehow. They may even make it so that the balance is restored by integrating me into this dimensions destiny, if that happens I'm screwed, but I may have to make a sacrifice if it is needed." Amy said sadly, she didn't want to mention she do the last on her own if she wanted, but would wait and see how things went. With any luck she would just be removed and sent back home, but she really doubted it, he luck didn't work like that.  
  
"Screwed?"  
  
"If they integrate me, I will be bound to this world and given a destiny of some kind to maintain the proper balance, it not it will rip itself apart at the seams. I would lose my position and the ability to enter other dimensions at will. Effectively, I would have to settle down and live here for some time before I was allowed to go home, but hopefully that will not happen."  
  
"We'll just have to wait and see."  
  
"It's still a couple of hours until sun up so I'm going to sit down and meditate until then. I need to recall everything I can about Ranma, his history and things like that. Oh yeah, do you know the name of the last major fighter Ranma last fought?"  
  
"Saffron, it was about six months ago."  
  
"Good, then I may not cause as much damage as I was thinking of. Up until Saffron, most of the dimensions are somewhat the same. After that things always seem to change in one way or another." With that Amy sat down in front of the fire and started to meditate.  
  
Cologne shook her head and lay down on her bed roll. She didn't know weather or not to believe the girl. She was supposed to be some kind of super powerful protector, and yet she had barely enough Ki within her to light a candle right now and she said she was getting better. She also wondered what Saffron had to do with anything, but would wait to ask that question at another time. Only time would tell, but the biggest strike against her was that she gave away information far too easily. Her name, her job, and a few other things most people would have kept secret.  
  
As Amy meditated she let her mind wander and did as she had said was going to do. This took all of 10 minutes though, she had been a fan of Ranma anime in her home reality and knew almost everything about the core idea of the show. She figured there would be a lot of differences in this reality and would have to take some time to figure out what they were, especially if she was going to have to stay here for any amount of time. For the rest of the time she reviewed her status and found to her embarrassment that she was basically powerless, well all most powerless.   
  
It had taken nearly all of her power to survive crossing two dimensional barriers illegally. It was going to take her weeks to recharge her powers, weeks she was sure she didn't have. She could feel the dimensional storm building already and it was her fault, sort of, and that made this her responsibility. Oh yeah, the vacation idea was out of the question. It looked like she was going to have to run some damage control to help make her presence as light as possible. She held no illusions though. Her being here was going to make things change radically in the coming weeks.  
  
On another level, Amy was almost laughing in insane delight. She had always wanted to visit one of the Ranma dimensions. He fascinated her on some levels. To have a fighting skill rivaling her own after less than a century was an amazing accomplishments that even a few Kami couldn't accomplish. It was too bad he was also a minor pervert, a chauvinist pig, arrogant, and down right dense at times.   
  
On the other hand, he protected his friends with an almost fanatical devotion, had a caring heart buried deep within his male shell that came out when he was turned into a girl. That part excited Amy to no end, Ranma's girl side was a major looker and if she played her cards right she might be able to play around with her a little bit. Maybe she could try it under the guise of 'girl' training or something. If she was going to be staying here, she was going to make it worth her time.  
  
Amy's eyes opened as she heard Genma crawl out of the tent, Ranma followed in a half dazed look. Yep, he was definitely very, very cute and exuded a type of animalistic magnetism that was easily readable even from where she was. Amy kept her face passive as she watched Ranma and Genma go from half asleep to instant battle, this must have been one of their famous morning sparing matches. They were both savage and graceful as they fought, like tightly wound springs just waiting to explode into action at even higher levels than this, it was a beautiful sight to behold.  
  
Seeing Cologne's eyes watching her, Amy decided to keep her hands to herself for awhile. These types of dimensions were notorious for having strange things happen at the worst possible times. Even getting a kiss was likely to cause her some form of embarrassment for either her or Ranma, then again it might be worth it to try. Sigh. She was glad she usually didn't mention the fact that her sex drive had sky rocketed when she learned that sexual martial art style.   
  
She was over-sexed. Amy could easily admit that to herself. Now all she had to do was keep her hands to herself, easier said than done with someone like Ranma to play with. That was going to be the hard part, but she knew there would be time to play later on. It was just to bad she wanted to get some action right now!  
  
After about an hour and half, with Shampoo and Cologne having their own sparing session next to the men, Ranma finally took a minute to come over and say hi. Amy tried to keep her interest to herself, but failed miserably. It showed on her face as they talked, at least to her. The 'I will Kill YOU' look Shampoo had leveled at her said it all as the boy approached her wiping sweat from his face with an old towel. This was a very delicate situation.  
  
"Hi, I'm Saotome Ranma."  
  
"Hi, I'm Amy Lee."  
  
"I was watching you as me and Oyaji sparred and I noticed that you have some experience with Martial Arts in the way that you seemed to be reading the moves that we were using. What style do you use?"  
  
"Actually I don't use one particular style. I have found that it is better to use the best moves from all the different systems. I guess you could call it a mix of everything if you will."  
  
"Oh? What level would you say you fight at?"  
  
"With me at full strength, I might be able to beat you at your best, but at the moment I'm too weak to do much. Surviving that blast took a lot out of me and it will take a few weeks to martial my strength again. I seriously depleted my reserves of energy yesterday. It took everything I had to survive."  
  
Ranma, of course hadn't heard beyond the 'I might be able to beat you part'. This was a girl after all. A really cute one at that, but he had enough problems with girls as it was, so he would try and keep his distance. Then of course the worst thing happened, Shampoo grabbed a water bottle out of her pack and squirted it at him and he became a big breasted red head in an instant, he sighed as he saw the expression on Amy's face as she backed up a few steps. Total Shock. Maybe disgust and a few thoughts of him being a freak of nature, life just want fair he thought to himself and turned away.  
  
To Amy, it was shock, of love at first sight! She felt a blush coming on and backed up a little bit. Her hands were twitching, she saw him notice this and instinctively twitch as if expecting a mallet strike from the missing Akane. "What's going on Ranma?"  
  
Ranma put a hand behind her head and stammered a little bit. "I-it's a c-curse, cold water turns me into a girl, hot water turns me into a guy...um..."  
  
Amy had to suppress her instinctive reaction to what was happening before her eyes. Ranma was deeply depressed beyond anything she had ever seen. Amy hadn't seen anything like it in years. The Pain in his eyes was beyond belief. She also wondered why Shampoo had just did what she did when she knew that Ranma did not like his curse.   
  
She glanced at the girl out of the corner of her eye and saw that all of the purple haired girl's attention was focused on her and not on Ranma. So that part was true after all, she didn't care about him in a loving way, only as a prize and a trophy to show off back in the village. Amy set her earlier plan into motion. Even if she failed she would treat Ranma like a human being.  
  
"You look so sad Ranma, the pain in your eyes is even noticeable to me and I am not all that emotional. Tell you what, your curse as you call it, is meaningless to me. If you want I'll listen to you and help you when I can. I think you need that more than another girl chasing after you, right?" Amy said sweetly. Shampoo growled and mumbled something about objects is for killing and pulled her weapons from out of nowhere.  
  
The look of shock on his face was priceless, Amy giggled. She then felt the danger and ducked as a bonbori flew through where her head had been. Amy noticed instantly just how slow she was, Shampoo should have been an easy target. Instead her power reserves were almost depleted, she had to do something quickly. Amy rolled to her feet even as Ranma tried to stop Shampoo from hitting her.  
  
"Shampoo don't start this again, not after Akane..."  
  
Shampoo growled and jumped over Ranma and used him as a spring board to launch her attack at Amy. The surprise on his face was noticeable to everyone even as Amy turned to face Shampoo. He hadn't been expecting anything like that. Amy crouched down and decided make this quick, she didn't have time to play around and her power levels were too low to do this safely. She just hoped that the purple haired girl survived what she was going to do.  
  
Cologne yelled for Shampoo to stop as she noticed Amy preparing herself for an attack, she could see the girl's skill instantly. This was followed by a shocking event. Amy started to glow and lifted off the ground a couple of inches. Her aura was pure red and made her clothing ripple and wave as a low humming sound filled the area. Shampoo, already committed to the attack knew in an instant that she was in trouble.   
  
All the sound around her vanished with a noticeable pop as Amy's Ki grabbed the wind currents around her and she exploded into a whirling tornado of punches, kicks, and Mini Ki attacks. The technique was pretty simple and took a minimum of he own power to use, but drew energy out of her environment to accomplish.  
  
Shampoo ran into this and screamed as she was caught up in the spiral and was instantly overwhelmed, she blacked out even as hundreds of blows rained down on her from every conceivable direction. She flew out of the spiral even faster than when she had gone in and everyone watched in fascination as the red twister vanished and revealed Amy gasping for air as she dropped to her knees. She glanced at Shampoo and noticed that the girl was unconscious, her clothing had been shredded and there were bruises forming on her face and body.  
  
"Cologne, I apologize for using that attack on your grand daughter, but in my weakened condition I had to end this stupid fight as quick as I could. Attacking me in a jealous rage was a very stupid thing to do, especially after she used Ranma as a spring board, he's not a thing you know..." Amy got a weird look on her face and collapsed.  
  
Ranma rushed forward and grabbed his new friend before she could injure herself even more. He had wanted proof that she was as good as she said, he had gotten it. Her attack had been very similar to the attack used on him by Mikado Sanzinen. Looking to the side he spotted one of Shampoo's Bonbori, the heavy metal weapon was beat to hell, covered in dents and fractured in several places. This girl, who was barely standing a few minutes ago had just defeated an Amazon in her prime, in less than a minute.  
  
He looked over at Cologne and saw the shock on her face. "Old Ghoul, if  
  
Shampoo comes after Amy..."  
  
"She has the right too Son-In-Law, she was defeated by an outsider."  
  
"Amy nearly died already, she was barely functional today and she just took out Shampoo who had a full nights rest and even several moments to consider her attack on Amy. From what I have seen, Shampoo doesn't stand a chance against Amy, even as injured as she is now. Back off and let this be, your attacking her will only cause more problems in the end." With that Ranma launched out of the clearing and headed toward the river where there was a shallow pool where she could let Amy get a little rest and a bath.  
  
Cologne hopped over to Shampoo's still form and tapped a couple of pressure points. Several seconds later she started to come around, her eyes fluttered open and she groaned in pain.  
  
"Well grand daughter, what did you find out about our new friend?"  
  
"Shampoo kill girl, she after Ranma. Give kiss of death..."  
  
"Son in Law is protecting her grand daughter."  
  
"No care, outsider must die." Shampoo stands up and hobbles over to her bonbori, she glares at the cracked and destroyed condition of her weapons. Cologne cackles at the look on her face when the head of one weapon fall off and lands on her toe. Shampoo jumps back and falls down holding her toe, having a 200 pound weight landing on one's toe is not a good thing.  
  
"Grand daughter, I think it would be best if you healed up a little bit before taking her on again. You were defeated, but she is a strong fighter, maybe even as strong as son in law."  
  
"Shampoo defeat girl, she trying to take husband..."  
  
"Is she now?" Cologne asked cryptically, but Shampoo did not hear her remark.  
  
*********  
  
ELSEWHERE...  
  
The large office was filled with bright lights and shadow that seemed to flicker and wave unnaturally. Set in the center of this room was a small desk with a man leaning back casually in an office chair, his face was bathed in shadows. Standing in front of the desk is a very beautiful girl with white hair that seems to almost glow, there is an aura of power around her. Her face is hard to make out as well, as if she didn't want to be seen.  
  
"What do you think we should do? The old ones are making a play for freedom and it is this girl's fault that they are even being given a chance." The girl asked.  
  
"Let the situation play out I think."  
  
"Why..."  
  
"She has upset the balance of course, but she seems to have the ability to know when to make changes that will benefit us and keep things to a minimum if need be."  
  
"Alright for now, but if this doesn't work I will take steps."  
  
"Of course Father, do you want me to contact her?."  
  
"We will eventually, but for now we will just watch and see how she handles this odd situation. She has quite a reputation back where she comes from."  
  
"Father, she is a total pervert and more than a little obsessed with her appetites."  
  
"Like I said, quite a reputation for being eccentric and I think things will work out in the end."  
  
"Of course father, you know best."  
  
"Indeed I do."  
  
*********  
  
Amy came out of her stupor only to notice her current position. Turning a deep shade of red, she tried to make sure Ranma didn't notice. She was currently flying from tree branch to tree branch while being held in her strong arms. Her heart went into over drive as they moved, she could feel Ranma's strength and power and it only fueled her lustful nature. She was about to reach out and grab the cursed girl when they landed by a waterfall with a small steam leading away from it.  
  
"How are you doing?" Ranma asked as she noticed Amy's eyes were open.  
  
"Wore out, I really shouldn't have done that, but Shampoo is strong fighter and in my current condition I couldn't afford to take chances with her."  
  
"Do you know that by defeating her, she will come after you to kill you?"  
  
"What?!" Amy gasped, she had forgotten all about that idiotic rule of theirs. Stupid Amazons, they were their own worst enemies at times.  
  
"It's a tribal law of her people. If she is defeated by a female outsider she must kill them to keep her honor by her laws."  
  
"Ah shit! I completely forgot about that little detail." Amy groaned, almost forgetting that she was snuggled in the arms of a major BABE. Almost. She was a little disappointed when Ranma sat her down beside the stream. Of course a fish chose that exact instant to flop out of the water and splashed the both of them. Amy giggled as Ranma just scowled and sighed, in all her well endowed glory, especially a wet muscle shirt like she was wearing. Everything was visible through the wet material and Amy shuddered as a wave of lust went through her at the sight of Ranma's nipples hardening in the cold water.  
  
Feeling playful with her new friend, Amy grabbed the front of her shirt, pivoted, and threw her head first into the stream with a mighty splash. Ranma pulled herself out of the water and scowled at Amy as she laughed, rolling on the ground. Ranma's revenge was instantaneous, she used her Ki and fired a blast into the stream creating a massive wave of water that swamped Amy who was laughing to hard to dodge.  
  
"Hah!"  
  
"Ooooh...I'll get you for that one Ranma."  
  
"That's what you get for tossing me in the stream." Ranma snapped back, grinning playfully.  
  
"Oh yeah?" Amy said as she slogged her way out of the water covered in mud. Of course the effect was ruined by the grin plastered to her face.  
  
Ranma gulped as she saw the look in her new friend's eyes, "Um...heh...well you get cleaned up and...I'll just go and get some hot water!" Ranma simply vanished as she jumped into the trees.  
  
Amy growled and stopped, yep, he was definitely on the cute, but stupid side. She shrugged and pulled her clothing off as she headed over to the water fall for a quick shower, she made it a point to be completely naked in case Ranma decided to come back and watch, she wanted to see what his reaction would bee and she was feeling playful in her lust. She also had to wash her clothes now that Ranma had given her a mud bath, the look on his face as she recalled the incident made her giggle quietly as she washed the mud off her legs and out of the shirt.   
  
After several minutes she stopped cold and shivered as she realized just what the crossover between dimensions had done to her. Like all characters in any story. She had been altered mentally so that she could react to this dimension more easily. Now it seemed she was more open with her feelings, more caring, and probably few other things she did not want to think about. She didn't need this. Back home she had spent years learning to control her feelings. Now in an instant of revenge her control had been shattered?  
  
Now it was like she really was in her teens again, Amy closed her eyes and scanned her aura and body. She groaned, her entire body had been affected by the crossover, she really was 18 again, hormones were running rampant through out her body. She was also emitting large amounts of chaos energy that was affecting her environment, this she shrugged off, it only meant that her life was going to become very interesting over the next few weeks. Amy also used her powers to draw in sunlight energy to recharge her depleted powers as she made her way out of the stream and to the opposite bank, the side that hadn't been hit by Ranma's wave.  
  
  
  
Her body was like an empty pit and started to suck in the energy, she realized that nearly powerless was an understatement now. That move with Shampoo had nearly cost her more than she was willing to give. She also used her aura to dry her borrowed clothing. The pants were first and only took a couple of minutes. After a while Amy got dressed again and began to practice her kata, focusing her Ki, and focused on getting her body back into a decent fighting state. She lost herself in the flow of each form as she moved form one kata to another as she considered all the changes that had been done, to her out look on life, to how she was viewing boys, and many other things.   
  
The more outgoing personality, so that she could interact with most of Ranma's friends and family, she could deal with this change easily. Her sex drive on the other hand was going to be a problem. She was in a word, a slut and liked sex with anyone she found even remotely attractive. That had been her lifestyle for years now, but this new world was geared more towards romance and love instead of the instant gratification she liked. She would have to find someone of like mind or go without for some time to come. A state of being she did not want to think about, but she could go for awhile without some if she put her mind to it.  
  
She knew that if she made a play for Ranma she would be playing with fire and the jealous rages of at least 4 women and even a couple of guys if she chased after Ranma when he was a girl instead. That, if she had her way seemed to be her preferred choice anyway. On the other hand, Ranma was the catch of the century, and if she even got him to go to bed with her, even once, she would cherish the memory of it forever.   
  
There was that other little problem as well. She was immortal and that meant that she'd had to make certain sacrifices over the years, the most painful one had been that she could have no permanent relationships with anyone unless they were like her and those type were few and far between. The short term relationships on the other hand could be powerful and a lot of fun if played right.  
  
Amy felt her Ki rise a little more and started to move more gracefully as she poured on the speed. She began to glow slightly. Her power vibrating within her and making her body come alive with health and vitality that had been stripped away during her torture and dimensional crossings. She knew that it was a good start and if she could get back to about twenty five percent or so of her strength she could survive just about anything while she healed up. It would just be a matter of time after that, that meant being careful and on guard.   
  
Amy was so lost in her musings that she failed to scan her surroundings as she would usually do instinctively, so she failed to notice the passed out Ranma laying on the ground nearby with a trickle of blood seeping out of her nose.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	3. Strange Days02 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.   
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 02  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
By the time Amy made her way back to the camp, she was just in time to see Cologne thrashing Genma for unlocking one of the most dangerous techniques in history. The beating was brutal, savage and as little scary, after all Genma-panda was holding up signs that said 'I'm just a cute little Panda', 'Don't beat the Panda', and 'Help!!' Amy held in a giggle at just how funny it looked for a panda to pull signs out of nowhere with writing on them. She had always wondered where they came from before she was taught about magical subspace pockets, but she was pretty sure that Genma had no clue what those were.  
  
"Hey Cologne, what technique are you talking about?" Amy asked.  
  
"I won't go into details, but it is capable of destroying this entire planet if used incorrectly or by the wrong people who wouldn't care one way or the other. It's far to dangerous to let this fool keep it and any way, it has been sealed away for longer than human history just to make sure it isn't used to set in motion the genocide of the whole human race."  
  
"Hmmm...You know that sounds like a couple of techniques that I know of, they usually go by names such as 'Galactic Ken' and 'God Wave Ken'. They usually draw energy directly from a planet itself and can be used in incredible ways, to blow up planets, to level cities, and to kill demons. I have visited several worlds where these techniques are used by a good number of fighters."  
  
"Do you know these techniques?"  
  
"Of course, I once had to blow some space ships out of orbit to forestall an invasion an protect this primitive society that was struggling to break out of the bronze age. I believe I used the 'Nova Canon' for that one." Amy stated calmly.  
  
"That's insane! You can't just use these techniques carelessly. They could kill millions of people in a single shot! I forbid you from using those while you are here. Do you understand me?!" Cologne yelled.  
  
"I refuse." Amy said and crossed her arms. She had no doubts who would win a fight between the two of them in her current shape, but she wasn't going to back down either.  
  
"They are too dangerous..."  
  
"Only, and I mean this, if they are used by irresponsible people, idiots, or those who combine those two traits. Ranma here is an ideal candidate for someone who should be taught the techniques and be trusted to use them wisely. His father on the other hand is a horrible choice. He has shown more than once, in some of the files I have read about him, that he is untrustworthy, manipulative, and a total coward."  
  
"Growf!" Genma huffed and held up a sign that said 'Hey! I'm not that bad!'  
  
"Now listen to me..."  
  
"Don't worry about it Elder, I'll make sure Ranma and Genma understand just what it is that they have unleashed."  
  
"That's not good enough. The knowledge must be wiped from their minds..." Cologne said and pulled some shampoo out of her sleeve with a determined look on her face as she eyed the panda.   
  
Genma-panda started to sweat. Amy wondered where it kept getting that tire from too. She wondered when the fool had learned that hidden weapons technique. Or were there other ways to do that?  
  
"You aren't touching my head Old Ghoul!" Ranma-chan shouted out as she stumbled into camp looking a little harried. She saw Amy Lee and blushed a deep red as she made her way over to the tent and grabbed a thermos out of her pack, opened it up and splashed herself with hot water. A now male Ranma tossed the thermos to his Oyaji and he used it too transform back as well.   
  
He made a point of not looking at Amy while the started to take down their tent. Amy just looked at him confused for a few seconds as she tried to figure out what he was thinking. Then she smirked and figured he must have watched her as she was in the waterfall, this merited looking into, she had thought he avoided things like that even though he had a tendency to get into strange situations.  
  
"Come on Oyaji, we need to break camp and head back home." Ranma declared.  
  
"We aren't done talking about this son in law!" Cologne yelled.  
  
"Why? We still have a few days left for training left." Genma said in a confused voice. "Are you being a coward again and trying to shirk your training, I won't allow that boy!"  
  
"I spotted some police coming to investigate the giant hole Amy made last night when she arrived."  
  
Genma paled, he avoided the police whenever he could just to be on the safe side. "Agreed, lets move out." Said the man who probably had several warrants out for his arrest, Amy could see that he was sweating quite heavily as he stuffed his stuff in his pack.   
  
"This isn't over you two, I will make sure those techniques are sealed back away before your end up killing some one with them." Cologne snapped and waved for her grand daughter to follow her as they left the area. Shampoo looked a little sad as they left, and stomped off her foot as the old woman ignored her. She waved at Ranma as they left, much to Ranma's annoyance.  
  
It only took them about fifteen minutes to break camp and clean the place up before they headed out, Ranma motioned for Amy to follow them and she was happy to comply. Surprisingly Ranma and Genma both took to the trees and were soon racing out of the area at speeds animals would have envied. She was a little slower than the two men because it had been a long time since she had practiced tree hopping, but she was fast enough to keep them in sight as they made their way out of forest. Amy also had to grin as she raced along beside them. She hadn't done anything like this in years. It took only a couple of hours to make their way out of the forest and headed back into Nerima.   
  
Amy was finally able top catch up to them as they left the forest and took the time to chat with Ranma. Ranma's endurance was simply amazing to her, he was barely winded after a run like that while she was gasping for air. Amy had always been in good shape, but this was pushing her limits and proved to her that she had let her endurance training slip. She has always been good for short spurts of high intensity activity, but she seemed to have lost her endurance over the years.   
  
"Hey, Ranma, do you know of anyplace that I could stay until I could get set up here?"  
  
"I'm not sure, the Tendo Hall has an extra room, but it wouldn't be free. Nabiki would charge you rent if you stayed and who knows what Hopposai would say if he came back and saw you in his old room."  
  
"That's a possibility, but I don't want your fiancée to jump to the wrong conclusions. From what you've said so far, she won't be too responsive to you bringing home some strange girl."  
  
"I...don't think that will be a problem Amy." Ranma said quietly.  
  
"Why is that?" Amy asked, picking up on the pain in Ranma's voice.  
  
"Um...Akane and I decided to call off our engagement without telling the others."  
  
"What brought that on and why tell me?"  
  
"After Saffron we really tried to get closer, but her temper quickly returned and I got tired of being pounded for barely reasonable reasons. I snuck into her room one night and we had a little chat after she got done pounding me and calling me names." He said and looked a little sad.  
  
""I'm sorry Ranma. I know you cared about her."  
  
"We still talk and stuff like before, she still hits me too, but we gave up on the families being united several months ago. It took me a while to get over her, but I threw myself into my training and have accepted it. Nabiki and Kasumi know about it, but they are still a little upset with us for breaking a promise made on the honor of both families."  
  
"What about the other 3 girls?"  
  
"Shampoo won't give up as you saw earlier, and Ukyo has backed off a little, but they haven't given up yet. Kodachi has been pretty quite lately so I don't know what is up with her."  
  
"Have you picked anyone yet?"  
  
"I don't want any of them. Shampoo is untrustworthy and down right obsessed. Ukyo, it's like marrying my sister really. I could have liked Shampoo, but she spent several months trying to kill me and she knows some pretty vile cuss words from several languages. I must have heard all of them while she attacking me, she has so much pride as a fighter that losing seems to be worse than death to her." Ranma shrugged. "Is it true what Cologne said about you being from a different dimension?" Ranma asked, changing the subject.  
  
"Yeah, but I may be staying her for a long time." Amy said as they hopped up on a wall along the canal.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"The easiest way to fix the problem of my being here is to slot me into the flow of destiny just like everyone else."  
  
"...Um..."  
  
"You don't understand?"  
  
"Nope!"  
  
Amy smiled, "I live, by definition, outside of destiny so that I can make changes to worlds without destroying them completely. Every one that lives has a destiny and affects those around them by their actions. If I had one of those the amount of damage I could do would be impossible to comprehend. I am a wild card that is sent into areas where the flow of destiny has been altered. Usually I have some idea of what I will be dealing with, but this situation is really weird..." Amy suddenly cut off and screeched as a bucket full of water flew out of nowhere and drenched her and Ranma as they ran.  
  
Ranma laughed as they continued to run, he had learned to just shrug off things like this over the last year since there wasn't any way to avoid them. Scowling in irritation, Amy caught up and growled at Ranma, but all she did was sniggered at her.  
  
"I know, since it is getting on towards evening now and I don't have any place to stay, how about I borrow your tent and I can set up camp in a park or something." Amy snapped in irritation, she hated to be wet. She flared her aura as they ran, quickly followed by Ranma when she saw what Amy was doing, and they spent a few minutes drying their clothing.  
  
"What about tomorrow?" Ranma asked as they jumped onto the roof of a house and went roof hopping.  
  
"Well, I have a kind of magic pocket filled with special devices that I use to set up in new areas like this without causing problems. All I need is a bank and about 20 minutes use of an ATM machine and I can have an account set up with enough money to live by. It pulls the funds out of my secured accounts in my main dimension. It's a little more complicated than that, but I can have several hundred thousand yen here and ready for use in just a couple of hours if I need it."  
  
"RANMA, PREPARE TO DIE!"  
  
Amy and Ranma look up and spot Ryoga launching off a nearby wall, his umbrella leading the way and with a look of pure rage on his face. Skidding to a stop they drop to the ground and Amy jumps backwards as she tries to remember what she can of Ryoga, but all she comes up with is that he is tough and gets lost easily.  
  
"You womanizing bastard, how dare you hurt Akane in this way! DIE!"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about P-Chan?"  
  
Oh yeeeaaahhh....giggle. Oooh, what cute fangs...where the hell did that come from! Amy whacked her head a couple of times as she giggled.  
  
Ranma easily dodges the umbrella and jumps into the air, the wall behind Ranma explodes as Ryoga's weapon hits it and sends shrapnel in all directions. Ranma Dragon kicks Ryoga in the head and slams him to the ground before bounding out of the way of Ryoga's counter attack, a Breaking Point strike that sends a wave of concrete surging at Ranma.   
  
He just hops in the air and dodged Ryoga's follow up attack and they land, jump at each other and continue to pound each other several minutes. Ranma doesn't even realize that he is unconsciously tapping into the technique the had been learning over the last few days, but Amy notices and decides that Ryoga doesn't stand a chance.  
  
Amy, feeling like she has had enough for now calls out to Ranma. "Hey, do you want me to help?"  
  
"Naw, I got it, it's just Ryoga after all." Ranma yells back with a smirk.  
  
"Asshole, I'll show you!" Ryoga screams. His attacks become even more destructive than before as more walls, rocks, a tree and car feel his wrath. Ranma on the other hand just dodges all of it like it was nothing as he defends himself while taunting the Lost Boy.  
  
"Okay, it looks like your Oyaji went on ahead without us several minutes ago and without even noticing the fight, I'm going to go and find a bank so I can get things settled up, alright?"   
  
"Go on ahead and I'll see you later, or tomorrow!" Ranma yells out as he Wheel Kicks Ryoga with a Ki charged foot and sends him flying back and into a tree. Ranma grins and dives in for more, he always enjoyed his fights with Ryoga even if the moron picked the worst times in the world to attack him.   
  
In the meantime Amy hops up on a roof and runs off towards what looks like the most likely place to find a bank ATM. She had wanted to continue to watch the fight, but she knew that longer she was here the worse things were going to get and she wanted to avoid that if at all possible.  
  
**********  
  
In a flare of light, Zephyr appeared in an alley way and looked around the area until he spotted a small truck parked by the trash cans beside a restaurant. It was a city vehicle that was pulling a tar machine used to cover streets and parking lots. He grinned at his luck and reached into his pocket to pulled out a small glowing seed, it resembled something one would find in a fruit or vegetable, but a little large than normal.   
  
Walking over to the trailer he calmly walked around it until he spotted the intake spout. He reached out and grabbed the spout cover to open it and burned his hand, cursing he created a small dagger of energy and cut the top off and dropped the seed in to the machine and vanished an instant later. He had other troops to send out after all.  
  
After several minutes the machine started to vibrate violently as it was ripped itself apart from the inside out. The tar machine seemed to glow as it twisted and heaved until it turned to energy that formed itself into the monster. It stood several feet high and its feet seemed to merge right into the ground as it stood there.   
  
It didn't walk so much as ooze along the ground as its featureless head looked around and gathered information. Without a sound it reached out and launched several dozen balls of tar into the building and ripping it to pieces and pinning several customers to the walls. It oozed into the destruction and proceeded to drain them of their life force energies and added it to its own.  
  
Its main orders were to make as much of a disturbance as it could while draining energy and power from those around it. So it picked up the truck and tossed it out of the alley and into the on coming traffic with a massive crash, causing an almost instant traffic jam and pile up to provide it with more victims to drain. From there it proceeded pick people off at random and drain them when they tried to run or hide.   
  
With every victim it would pause and send the energy back to its Master before taking the next living source of energy. The process took only a few seconds so it didn't have to pause all that long and used this time to smash more cars and toss them into nearby stores and businesses. If it could have, it would have been grinning from elation and relief that it hadn't ended up as pink cotton candy like the last monster sent out to do this. It shuddered at just thinking of poor pinky.  
  
Police and fire trucks were soon on the scene swarming across the destruction like ants, the monster drained these too. The Police had their guns out and were firing on the tar monster and watching in disbelief as their bullets passed through its body harmlessly while they were dropping like flies. In the background the Fire Department personnel were taking care of care fires created by the destroyed cars and stores. Then the wounded and all the other casualties that had been caused in just the last few minutes were taken care of. All around them those few people who were still around were evacuating as quickly as they possibly could, very few of them made it before they dropped from being drained.  
  
It wasn't long before the cheers arose as the cities heroes were spotted heading for the area some minutes later...  
  
**********  
  
Amy had decided to do what she needs to do by doing it the Nerima way and jumped to a nearby roof and several minutes hopping from house to house, for a second she considers flying, but rules it out unless she runs into an emergency. She was a long way from getting back to full power and she didn't want to waste what little Ki she had left unless she had to. She could not remember the number of time she had been without enough energy to protect herself in a fight. And that was just because she had used it all somewhere else.   
  
As far as she knew, flying was not available to most of the fighters in this dimension anyway and this would allow her a surprise technique to use if she needed it. Amy does do a small test and finds that she is still able to fly as she launches herself over an intersection, no one notices as she does this by hopping over the street from roof to roof. For awhile she runs for the sheer fun of it, making sure not to damage any of the roofs as she landed on them and made her way across all of Nerima, completely forgetting what she was going to do in the first place.  
  
It was about twenty minutes later when Amy lands on a roof at the edge of Nerima and hears some odd noises from below, yelling and screaming, she looks down into the alleyway below her and spots several men gathering around a crying young girl trying to crawl away from them. She looked to be about 14 or 15, was wearing a school uniform of white and brown, had black hair, and her shirt had been ripped from her shoulders to reveal a white satin bra and a large pair of breasts. The men were boasting about how fun she was going to be at their party tonight when they got the surprise of their lives.  
  
Amy landed in their midst's with a growl of rage and launched into an attack that sent the attackers flying into the walls of the alley and with in seconds over half of the men were down and out of the fight. An elbow to one's face sent him flying back into his fellows with a grunt of pain, a well placed kick broke one's jaw, then she used a rebound from that to flip back and go low to sweep the feet out from the final attacker. Amy flipped to her feet and glanced around for any more attackers before going to check on the girl. For some reason the girl looked a little familiar, but Amy couldn't place her.  
  
The girl watched in fascination as her tormenters were dealt with in seconds and soon the only thing she could hear was their moaning in pain. Her savior stood proudly over the 10 men and glanced in her direction and smiled. "Hi, are you alright?"  
  
"I - I'm fine, this is a regular occurrence, though normally they don't usually get so violent."  
  
"These are violent times, miss...?"  
  
"Tomoe Hotaru."  
  
"Call me Amy Lee, now can I help you get anywhere?"  
  
"I was heading home when they jumped me, it's only a few block from here so there won't be any more problems."  
  
"..." For some reason Amy didn't believe her.  
  
"So was there any particular reason they were after you, or was this just a random attack?"  
  
"I...don't like to talk about it anymore." Hotaru said quietly as she stood up and tried to salvage some of her shirt to cover herself, it didn't work very well. A cold wind hit her suddenly and she shivered a little. Then she gasps in surprise as Amy shrugs off the shirt she had borrowed from Ranma and drapes it over her shoulders with a shy smile.  
  
"There you go, that should hold you over until we get to your place." Amy says as she stands back and looks the girl over.  
  
Hotaru puts on the over sized shirt and blushes a little as Amy reaches out and quickly ties the shirt closed. She can't help but notice that Amy is only wearing a thin muscle shirt under the shirt and that it barely covered her breasts and allowed Hotaru to see that Amy is all muscle and power. "Um...are you sure you want to help me..."  
  
"No problem. A little cold air won't hurt me that much and it's only for a few blocks. But first I need to do something." Amy grins and skips over to the men she had just beat up and proceeds to strip them down to their underwear and shreds the rest of their clothing into tattered cloth. She takes their wallets and all the valuables they had on them. It turned out to be several watches, a couple of rings, and a few other odd items of value. She spits everything down the middle and hands half of it to a stunned Hotaru who has no clue what to do with it.   
  
"They deserve an object lesson for trying to hurt you in the way they did, so we are going to take the spoils of war." Amy grinned cutely as she counted the money.  
  
Hotaru giggled and pocketed the small stash in her skirt pocket and the headed out, she wasn't about to complain when Amy had helped out. Running from those girls had been getting pretty bad lately. They deserved to be taken down a peg or two. She pointed the way home and they made good time, but about 10 minutes later Amy got this look in her eye and grabbed Hotaru's arm. She dragged Hotaru into a nearby restaurant and proceeded to order enough food for several people.   
  
"What's going on Amy?"  
  
"Those guys wanted to show you a good time right, so it's only fair that we enjoy their money, neh?"  
  
"Right!" Hotaru said happily.  
  
They ordered a large breakfast.   
  
"Tell me about yourself Hotaru."  
  
"I'm in my last year of high school and will be taking my placement tests for collage soon."  
  
"What are your interests?"  
  
"Right now I will be taking music classes for the violin, Michiru-mama has been teaching me for a couple of years now."  
  
"Are you any good?"  
  
"I am about average for my age." Hotaru said.  
  
"That's cool, I never could pick up a musical instrument worth a crap, but I can play."  
  
"How good are you?"  
  
Amy grinned, "About average for my age."  
  
"Okay, maybe my answer was a little vague. I am good enough to be in a recital. So just how good are you at fighting?"  
  
"I'm probably one of the top 10 fighters on the planet." Amy said with pride.  
  
"How do you figure that?" Hotaru asked curiously.  
  
"I can throw Ki attacks."  
  
"I have never heard of anybody that could actually do that, I thought it was as impossible as magic."  
  
"Naw, it just takes practice and the proper training mostly, it took me about 6 months to learn how to use and detect Ki in myself."  
  
"Cool, I bet Haruka would love to talk to you about that kind of stuff, she is into martial arts and would love to learn that."  
  
"Well see, it takes a certain kind of dedication to learn how to use Ki in a combat situation. Lets head out, were starting to get some funny looks since I am all but hanging out of my shirt right now." Amy smirked and winked at Hotaru, who blushed instantly. They paid the bill, had their extra food boxed up for eating later, and headed out again.   
  
From there it didn't take them all that long to get to Hotaru's house, it looked to Amy like it could hold over 20 people easily. Amy also frowned as her danger senses went off, not exactly extreme danger she realized. Just a feeling of power, lots of it and tightly focused.  
  
"Would you like to come in Amy?" Hotaru asked as she opened the door.  
  
"Naw, I have to get back to what I was doing before I found you. I hope we can meet again Hotaru, I liked our talk." Amy said as she got her shirt back and walked away.  
  
"Me too Amy." Hotaru called as Amy walked off.  
  
Hotaru sighed and wondered why she had been feeling ill at ease with the girl ever since she had met her, almost as if she was in danger for some reason. She shrugged and went inside to meet her adoptive parents Haruka and Michiru. Michiru stepped out of the kitchen with her dinner and started to set the table since she was late.   
  
"Good morning Hotaru, did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
"No, I ran into a bunch of guys that wanted to beat me up."  
  
"What again, I thought Haruka took care of that."  
  
"There were ten of them and they were trying to really hurt me, this girl saved me and bought me breakfast." Hotaru said and held up the packages with a nervous grin.  
  
Michiru looked at her homemade breakfast and frowned.  
  
"I'm hungry enough to eat a little I suppose."  
  
Haruka appeared as if by magic and started to eat all the food in sight. "whasth yoth ehter thin ungry eforeth?"* Haruka said with her mouth full of bacon and eggs.  
  
*"What, You've never been hungry before?"*  
  
**********  
  
Amy felt pretty good for having saved the girl, but still she wondering why she seemed so damned familiar to her. She just couldn't put her finger on what it was, but something was there. Then as she jumped to a roof and started to head back towards Nerima Amy felt something was out of place and turned back the way she had just come from. She spotted the flashes of colored light in the early dawn light about a mile away from her current position.   
  
It kind of looked like someone was using large fire works on the ground between buildings. Sending her senses out she quickly spots the magical energies and wonders what is going on. It takes her only a few minutes to cross to the distance at top speed and land on a roof so that she can get a good look at the battle taking place below her.   
  
Amy gasps as she sees 5 young girls in Fuku throwing magical blasts at a monster that seemed to be made out of tar and rock. It counter attacked by throwing large balls of tar in an attempt to glue them to a wall or the ground. 'THE SAILOR SCOUTS ARE HERE TOO?! I THOUGHT THIS WAS A RANMA DIMENSION?!' she nearly screams in surprised shock.   
  
Then the names Hotaru, Michiru, and Haruka flash though Amy's mind and nearly fainted again. No wonder those names had seemed so familiar, the only reason she hadn't recognized them in the first place was that she didn't think the Sailor Scouts were even around. This was going to make things a whole lot more complicated if she had to deal with the trigger happy Scouts.  
  
"So you are the one Sailor Mars warned us about." Said a male voice from behind and to the side from where she was leaning over the edge of the building.  
  
Amy spun around just in time to snatch the dozen roses out of the air before they could impale her. She tossed them over the edge of the roof casually, but keeping a couple of them to study later on since she could sense quite a bit of power imbued into them. "What the hell? Why are you attacking me, I haven't done anything to you or anybody else?"  
  
A man wearing a cape and a full tuxedo stepped out of the shadows and if Amy hadn't known just who this was, she would have been rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. He looked like an even bigger idiot up close than he did on TV. What was that name she had heard once? "Oh hi Cape Boy, I have no idea what you are talking about." Amy said and grinned prettily.  
  
"Call me Tuxedo Mask, and you are a killer who needs to be brought to justice." With that he jumped forward and swung his cane like a sword.  
  
"Huh?" Was all Amy got out before he attacked, she was more than a little confused by his actions since the Sailor Scouts were supposed to be the good guys. Why was she being attacked for no reason? Was this one of those dimensions where the Scouts were evil and out to rule the world or something? Then Amy's fighting instincts took over and she reacted as the trained fighter she was, ducking under the cane swing and slamming her palm into Cape Boy's stomach with enough force to nearly blow him off his feet. This was followed by a quick blow to the back of his head as she spun around him and sent him down into lala land.   
  
Not feeling particularly charitable about being attacked for no reason, Amy quickly stripped him of his cape and ripped it to shreds, then used these to tie him up. This wasn't good enough in Amy's opinion so she stripped him of his tux as well and left the guy tied up in his underwear. Someone would find him eventually.   
  
As she was doing this she was doing this she was watching the fight below them, the Scouts were being picked off one by one by the monster. Amy recognized one of those silly spots where Cape Boy was supposed to hop onto a nearby lamp post and spout off some useless poetry to inspire the girls to win the fight. Unfortunately he was a little 'tied' up at the moment, Amy giggled to herself.  
  
It seemed that Sailor's Mars and Venus had been taken out pretty quickly and were currently hanging on the wall of the building by a large piece of tar. Sailor's Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter were wearing the monster down by firing their magical blasts at the thing when Amy saw something that she was half expecting. After all it fit in with the Sailor Scout plot line that such a thing had to take place every few episodes.   
  
Sailor Moon launched a very powerful blast of magic that seemed to barely hurt the monster when it hit and then she tripped over her own feet. She screamed as she saw the monster toss another ball of tar crackling with dark energy. Sailors Mercury and Jupiter didn't have time to react to Moon's danger since they were in the process of dodging out of the way of their own dangers. Then they saw a red and black blur launch itself off the building next to them.  
  
Amy didn't even notice that she was in motion until she was moving towards Sailor Moon's position. This made her feel a bit silly. Her low power reserves sparked to life even as she grabbed the girl and carried her out of the way of the monsters attack. It passed by harmlessly and impacted against the far wall and created a large hole.   
  
She came to a stop several feet from the monster and sat Sailor Moon on the ground. The girl had a look of surprise on her face as they looked at each other. Amy figured it was because Cape Boy hadn't saved her. "You'll be fine from here Sailor Moon. I'll try my hand at this monster if you don't mind." She whispered in the girl's ear. Before she turned away from her and decided which attack to use on the thing. She hadn't had this much fun in years.  
  
Bringing her arm up, Amy focused her powers into her palm and drew in the magical energy swirling around the area. If Scouts hadn't been firing off large blasts of magical energy for the last few minutes she doubted she could have fired off even a small blast of energy. The fact that most of it was a mixture of negative and positive energy that her body could be automatically converted for her use didn't seem to faze her, a blazing aura of red power formed around Amy as she quickly gathered the latent energy.   
  
The scouts were shouting in the background, but she ignored them for the moment. She would talk to them when she was done showing this monster who was boss. This took all of 3 seconds, then Amy let fly what she called a Mini Blast. This was highly condensed beam attack shaped like a beach ball sized sphere of red lightning. She had always been pretty impressed with how much her attacks looked when she fired them off.  
  
It sheared through the tar monster's next attack and struck it in the chest, Amy snapped her fingers and grinned as the resulting explosion went off. The alley way was decimated as the ground shook from the blast and Amy was surprised to find no sign of the monster at all. The only thing left was a destroyed tar making machine that was smoldering and slightly melted. Of course the crater left behind was a good example of just how much damage it had sustained so Amy felt in assuming that she had driven it out of the machine.   
  
Amy turned around to see if Sailor Moon was alright, just in time to scream in agony as she was hit in the chest with one of Jupiter's lightning balls and flung the length of the alley to crashed into the wall hard enough to shatter it. Amy slid down the wall and lay there trying to figure out what was going on, what had happened? She could just make out the scouts yelling at each other in the back round and she wondered if fhe had been attacked by the monster. Then she heard what the Scouts were saying to each other and knew the truth.  
  
"Don't be stupid Sailor Moon! She is a killer sent to take us out! Kill her now and we'll be safe..." Mars yelled from her spot on the wall, still caught in the monster's tar ball.  
  
"I can't believe you did that Jupiter! She just saved our lives and you just blast her for it?!" Sailor Moon screamed at the pony tailed girl.   
  
Jupiter frowned at her friend and glanced over at the red head's body.  
  
"Guy's, her readings are all over the place. Her body is full of both dark and light energy and her injuries are healing at an accelerated rate. She will be up and moving in a matter of minutes." Mercury said to all of them.   
  
Amy didn't need this right now. If her body took to much damage, it would shut down completely to repair all the damage. It was a fail safe that allowed her to stay alive when she had pushed herself to far. This shut down tended to make people think she was dead and she hated waking up under ground or in a coffin several months after she had 'died'.   
  
If they hit her again, that is what was going to happen to her and after taking this kind of abuse that was the last thing that was going to happen today. Deciding to take a chance, Amy concentrated and flooded her body with what little Ki she had managed to save up over the last 2 days and used up the rest of the power she had just gathered for her earlier attack.  
  
"Something is happening, her power level just jumped 30% and it's rising at 2% per second!" Sailor Mercury shouted.  
  
Amy rolled to her feet and concentrated on pulling in all the rest of the available energy around her, she really didn't need to die right now. Her aura flared up and sputtered for the several seconds that she was vulnerable to the Scouts attacks, then it steadied itself and started to hum softly. She glared at Sailor Moon and her friends, "I never thought helping the Sailor Scouts would be contrived as a killing offence. You're supposed to be the good guys, not trigger happy terrorists! I hope you have your insurance paid up Scouts, because up until a few minutes ago I was willing to be friends with you, even help you. No More! You made an enemy today and you better hope you can live with it!!" Amy growled out and vanished as her aura flared, leaving the Scouts with shocked looks on their faces. Sailor Moon looked as if she was about ready to start crying.  
  
"MARS, THIS IS YOUR FAULT!!"  
  
"MMMPHHH!!" Tuxedo Mask tried to say from his spot on the roof, but no one heard him.  
  
*********  
  
Zephyr was happily cycling energy into a storage crystal and humming an old American rock song, Rebel Yell or something like that as he worked, he was out of tune but he didn't care all that much. He is standing in a small room surrounded by several platforms worth of glowing crystals. His tar minion had been taken out easily enough by that red haired girl, but she seemed to have something against the Scouts and that meant that she wouldn't be helping them all that often.   
  
Their pathetic showing against Tar Baby had been proof of that and he knew his next monster was going to be strong enough to defeat them easily, so long as the girl didn't show up again. He had gotten a good laugh at what the Scouts had done when they attacked the red head, she had been pretty pissed off at them when she teleported out of the area, enough to threaten them too.  
  
He hummed some more and grabbed up another crystal to be filled, Tar Baby had taken more energy than he had thought he could. He idly wondered why the Scouts had been such a problem in the past, if not for that girl they would have been taken down easily. They had no combat training and barely seemed to know how to use their powers. They were unorganized and tended to work against each other when it counted. How they had survived so long was a mystery to him, but his Master had said to be careful, they were more than they seemed.  
  
"Zephyr."  
  
"Master?"  
  
"Use all that energy to Awaken Black Razor."  
  
"...as you command Master."  
  
"Also, check on that 'host' warrior that was sent to take care of the Guardian of Time, it hasn't been heard from since it was sent out."  
  
"Of course Master."  
  
Zephyr turns and raises his arm, a blast of dark energy fires from the palm of his hand and strikes two of the glowing crystals on a platform behind him. They shatter in a burst of energy that fills the room. He absorbs the energy into himself and grins at the sheer amount of power now available. He pulls a vial of black liquid from his coat and charges it with the energy that he just absorbed.   
  
The vial is about 12 inches long and it's hard to tell what the thing is made out of. He concentrates and floods the vial with dark energy for several seconds before teleporting it to a park in the center of Juban. He figured that the Scouts would get a kick out of Black Razor. She always did have a pretty good idea how to cause trouble.  
  
*********  
  
Amy reappeared in the park that she had passed while running with Ranma a few hours earlier, she was gasping for air and had blood running down her cheek from a cut on her forehead. Jupiter's blast had taken almost all her energy, every muscle in her body hurt from the fight. Then she noticed that there was a person in front of her and looked up to see someone that she recognized. The green pants and bandanna gave it away almost instantly and she wasn't all that surprised to finding him here.   
  
He had a habit of showing up in the oddest places and at the worst possible time to cause Ranma no end of trouble. She smiled evilly at the shocked expression on Ryoga's face just as she collapsed at his feet, the fight with the Scouts finally taking its toll on her much abused body.  
  
Once again, Amy's eyes opened and she saw the sun shinning down on her, she groaned as she remembered what those damn Scouts had done to her. She was going to make them pay for attacking her without cause, though she had no intention of killing any of them. She was willing to give them the benefit of doubt and assume they made a mistake. She didn't work that way, she would get her revenge on by using their civilian identities against them.   
  
She sat up and gasped at the amount of pain she was feeling, almost dieing twice in less than 12 hours was taking it's toll on her. She needed rest more rest than what she had gotten, but right now she needed real food to help replenish her energy reserves.  
  
"How are you feeling?"  
  
Amy turned and saw a shirtless Ryoga sitting in front of a small stove heating up some water. "Ryoga?"  
  
He looked confused for a second, and then shrugged. "What happened to you?"  
  
"I got in a fight with the Sailor Scouts."  
  
"The Sailor Scouts?"  
  
"Yep, they accused me of being a murder and proceeded to launch their attacks at me until I was forced to retreat, it pissed me off to no end."  
  
"What did you do to make them think that?" Ryoga asked as he stood up and poured the two of them a bowl of ramen.  
  
"I have no idea actually. I was roof hopping when I stumbled across the fight when I was roof hopping and decided to watch. Then Cape Boy sneaks up behind me and starts tossing roses, of all things, followed up by trying to brain me with his cane." Amy pulled one of the roses out of sub space to show Ryoga.  
  
"Cape Boy?"  
  
"He wanted to be called Tuxedo Mask actually. There was no way in hell I would do that."  
  
Ryoga laughed and finished off his ramen, "Then what?"  
  
"Then after I took him down and tied him up with his own cape after stripping him down to his boxers. I looked back down at the fight and notice Sailor Moon is about to be hit with this giant ball of tar, so I jump down and save her as easy as pie and blast the monster out of existence a few seconds later. As I'm turning to check on the other scouts, Jupiter hits me with her lightning ball attack. Because of what's happened to me lately, I didn't have any of the strength left to defend myself like I normally would. After the attack I used the last of my energy to translocate myself out of the area, I appeared here and collapsed."  
  
"I've met the Scouts one several occasions and even helped them before, they seemed nice enough to me. Are you sure it was them?"  
  
"Silly Fuku and short skirts, giant pink hearts?"  
  
"That sounds like the girls I'm thinking of. By the way what were you doing with Ranma earlier?"  
  
"At the time I was considering renting a room at the Tendo Dojo and he was leading me there. Before I can do that though, I need to find a bank and have some of my money sent here so that I can get set up. You know, buy some new clothing and return this outfit of Ranma's back to him." Amy looked down and noticed that the neat outfit she had been loaned was no longer in very good shape. It was covered in dust, ripped, and looked like it had been in more than one explosion. "Okay, buy Ranma a new outfit too."  
  
"You do know that Ranma has 4 fiancée's right?"  
  
"Yeah he told me about them..."  
  
"Then why are you trying to marry him?" Ryoga growled.  
  
Amy chocked on her noodles and started to laugh so hard she fell over. "Wh-wherever in the world did you get that idea?!"  
  
"I have never met a girl that wasn't chasing after Ranma. I guess I'm jumping to conclusions." Ryoga bushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.  
  
Still giggling, Amy sat back up and dusted herself off and looked up at the sun, it looked to be about 8AM in the morning, from the looks of things she hadn't been out that long. "Thanks for breakfast cutie, I'll be around for a while if you're ever in the area again. I'm going to head out and find a bank ATM."  
  
Ryoga turned a deep shade of red and stammered out, "I-isn't it a little e-early r-right now?"  
  
"Naw, I have a few things to do today."  
  
"Just head up the block and hang a right, head past the school and cross the street. You can't miss it." Ryoga said, laughing nervously and grabbing the back of his head again.  
  
Amy waved thanks and headed off, 4 hours later, 3 cities, the ship yards, and a farm house she found herself in the heart of Juban, in front of the Crown Arcade. Cursing Ryoga under her breath and wondering how the moron's direction curse had affected her, Amy looked across the street and saw an ATM. She looked up at the sky and thanked god that she had finally found what she was looking for, who would have thought it would take this long?   
  
She jogged across the street and pulled a small wallet out of nowhere. From this she pulled a small card that looked like an ATM card and inserted it in the slot, the machine scanned the card and seemed to take several minutes to process the card. There was a program built into the card that invaded a banks computer and set up a rather large account under her name.  
  
The ATM eventually spat out a credit card and a large wad of bills that she instantly counted. She put everything back into her sub space pocket when she was done. Then she headed back over to the arcade and saw a good looking blond man sweeping the walk out front. He smiled at her as she walked up and stopped sweeping.  
  
"Good morning."  
  
"Good morning, you wouldn't happen to no where I could find a mall around here? I managed to ruin my new clothing in a fight."  
  
"A fight? Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I wasn't hurt to bad, but my poor clothing took a beating and I'm to far from Nerima to get a proper change of clothes." Amy lied through her teeth with a grin on her face. She would be fine in a few days.  
  
"No problem, there is a mall a few blocks from here, but if you are looking for more outfits like that one I can steer you towards a store that specializes in that type."  
  
"That would be great! This wasn't even mine in the first place so I have to replace it. Also, when will you be opening up, I could use breakfast, well, a snack at least." Amy smiled again. This mixing of dimensions was pretty weird, but she knew one thing, all the guys and girls were really cute.  
  
"We're already open I was just sweeping to get things ready for the lunch rush, by the way I'm Motaki."  
  
"I'm Amy Lee."  
  
"Come on in Amy, take a seat over there and I'll get you something to eat." Motaki said.  
  
As she was entering the arcade, Amy took off the coat like shirt and was glad that she had the muscle shirt on underneath it, it was in better shape than the coat, but showed off a lot of skin and it showed off her breasts. It was a little indecent, but she didn't mind and Motaki seemed to enjoy the view, he couldn't take his eyes off her breasts even as he was making her a milkshake and a ham sandwich. She spent the next half hour chatting with they guy and eating, it was pretty different experience for her. It had been a long time since she could to anything normal like sit around and just flirt with a guy.  
  
Amy was putting her coat shirt back on as she left when she suddenly remembered that this arcade and the mall she was heading for were both Scout hangouts. If she came back here some time in the next few days she would have a good chance of catching them off guard, she smiled evilly, now all she needed was a chain, a gag, and some whip cream. The smile was enough to scare Motaki though, and he backed off a little as Amy started cackle when she waked out of the arcade.  
  
The Mall, that's what the sign said above the entrance said. It caused Amy to shake her head when she saw it. How original, she thought as she went inside with the other shoppers. Once inside she found the mall guide map and spent a few minutes memorizing it, from there it was a 3 hour spend-a-thon to get everything she needed. She bought several pair of black pants, a dozen dragon shirts, and several pair of red and black panties (something she had gone the last couple of days without since she couldn't stand wearing the boxers Ranma had offered her). And socks, running shoes, and a pair of combat boots that she would need to make some alterations to.   
  
From there she found a specialty store and had a 2 special coats commissioned with a special kind of inner liner with hundreds of small pockets, doubly reinforced with Kevlar. When she got them she would have to add her own personal touches to them, but by then she should have gotten herself settled down somewhere she could work on them in private. She paid a little extra to have them made with quality, style, and strength since she didn't want them falling apart a week after she started using them.  
  
She also picked up a large backpack, a sleeping bag, and other odds and ends she might need, gloves, sunglasses, string, a small stove like Ryoga had been using, etc. Everything went in the pack and by the end of the shopping spree she was carrying a very heavy bag, it must be noted that like Ranma and Ryoga, she had no problems lifting it or carrying it. This was better than using the stuff Ranma had loaned her to camp out with wile she was looking for a place to stay. Most of that was sitting in sub space waiting for her to pull it back out and use it.   
  
While at the specialty store Amy had changed into one of her new outfits, black pants, boots, a black t-shirt and black, green, and red silk coat etched with flowers. Checking over everything in her mind, Amy then decided that she had one more stop to make and headed towards the Glamour Salon, she hadn't been pampered in ages and wanted to spend a couple of hours relaxing before she headed back to Nerima.  
  
Amy was just finishing with the salon and paying her bill when she sensed the Youma manifesting itself nearby. From the power reading she could tell that it was more powerful than the one she had faced earlier. She shook her head and cursed under her breath at the odd timing of the event. The girl that had done her hair gave her a strange look. "What's wrong, did I mess up?"  
  
"Huh, oh, no nothing like that. I'm a martial artist and I have this danger sense that helps me protect myself and those around me from all sorts of dangers. It just started to go off like fire alarm. I think there is a Youma in the area from all the dark energy I'm sensing right now." In the back round they could hear the faint sounds of screaming crowds and people running for cover. "See? Get your customers to cover. I'll see if there is anything I can do to help out."  
  
With that Amy grabbed her pack and raced out of the store, her mind running through the possible types of monsters she would be facing. She also hoped she could kill the thing before it hurt to many people or the Scouts showed up, the way things were going Amy had a feeling that they would only make matters worse. Streams of panicking people were running at her and she was forced the access her Ki and run along the wall, defying gravity for almost 40 yards before she flipped off the wall. Then the Monster came in sight and she had to stifle a giggle, it was probably the stupidest thing she had ever seen.   
  
It was over twelve feet high, solid purple, and bore a striking resemblance to the Stay Puffed Marshmallow Man(tm). Someone had been watching Ghost Busters lately. She shrugged and continued to observe it's movements for several seconds while trying to decide on a course of action. Her hyper senses were detecting faint bands of energy being pulled into the monster from nearby people that had gotten to close to the thing.  
  
"Hey, Tubby, pick on someone half your size why don't you?!" Amy yelled to get its attention.   
  
She then crouched down, tossed her pack to the side, and began to power up as quickly as she could. An aura of red power exploded around her and shattered several of the nearby store windows in the back lash, she smiled evilly as she was finally able to access a good amount of her powers now that she had gotten a little rest, that sleep had done her a world of good. She reached out with her powers the flicked her wrist, every human, animal, and bug in a 50ft radius of Amy vanished to the parking lot outside the mall in a flare of light. The monster turned to her and screamed in rage and fired off a gigantic blast of energy from it mouth. Amy almost smiled in ecstasy as she realized that the poor sap was using pure life force energy to fuel the blast instead of the stuff that other monster had used against her.   
  
A sword of glowing red power formed in Amy's hand and she sliced through the attack like it was nothing. the power turned into a cascade of lightning flowing all over her body an arcing into the crystals on her bracers and filling her reserves and absorbing it into her own body. "Come on sucker, is that the best you can do?"  
  
Another roar and an even bigger blast was launched at Amy, she grinned even wider and dropped her guard. She spread her arms as the blast hit her, instead of being flung back or even injured, the monster watched as its enemy stood her ground wrapped in bolts of lightning. This caused the crystals to ignite and flare up as the pure life energy was absorbed. The energy was used to repair her crystals. They burst to life and Amy's power levels began to increase exponentially as they repaired themselves.   
  
The cracks vanished as the power increased. Eventually the very foundation of the mall began to shake as she continued to absorb more and more energy. Then the ultimate rush of power waned and she launched forward so fast she broke the sound barrier, slamming into the hapless monster with enough force to send it flying across the mall and through several walls. It didn't take this too well and died before it could recover, Amy came to a stop and asked Aho and Midory how they were doing.  
  
'Well Amy, we are glad to be back, it was total luck to come across a monster like this one. I mean how often does one find a source of life energy like this without killing someone?' Aho's female voice said.  
  
"Well fought Amy, but you used far too much power against that thing. Remember what I and the others have taught you." Midory's male voice said within her mind, like always it sounded irritated with her performance in the fight.  
  
"I know. I just needed to let loose and blow off some steam. The last couple of days have been pretty hard on me." Amy said as she grabbed her pack and headed for the roof of the mall. Several minutes later she launched herself skyward, screw being cautious in this situation, and flew several miles before landing inside a park and running for the trees. Just inside the tree cover Amy slowed to a stop and vanished into the woods, she needed to cover her tracks and cursed herself for not thinking beyond the fight.  
  
*********  
  
Ami Mizuno is sitting in the library reading a book and studying for her up coming entrance exams to collage when she heard the beeping of her communicator. She quietly looks around before she opens up the cover on her watch, a small screen winks on and the face of Sailor Mars appears. Ami hides her irritation at her friend.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I've found a Youma at the mall, that red head appeared out of nowhere. She is fighting the thing right now, I watched as she vaporized nearly 2 dozen bystanders! Get over here and help me stop her!"  
  
"I'm on my way." Ami said and shut the communicator. If Mars was right, it would mean that they had misjudged that girl's intentions the yesterday, especially Sailor Moon. That was kind of odd since Moon was so good at reading people. There had been no evil or malice in her until they had attacked her from behind and nearly killed her.   
  
Mars and Jupiter had been the only ones that thought the girl was a threat and both had been chewed out by Usagi at the meeting afterward. Now it seemed that Mars may have been right, but to Ami something wasn't adding up. Ami ducked out of the library and headed for the mall, she ducked into an alley on the way there and pulled out her pen to transform into Sailor Mercury.   
  
She quickly runs to the mall at a dead run. Tapping her earring so that her eye shield come down and she uses this to access her mini-computer while she is moving to scan the area before she arrived. Through sub vocalized commands she set it to focus on and around the mall area and inform her of everything that was going on.   
  
Almost immediately she gasps at the amount of power she is picking up from inside the mall and almost all of it matches the kind used by that red headed girl that Mars was telling them to be wary of. It is nearly 12 times as powerful as the last reading just a few hours ago. Somehow the girl had managed to power up and probably heal herself again, if Mars was right about the girl this was a very bad thing.  
  
As she entered the parking lot, she saw Sailor Jupiter holding back a crowd of on lookers. She waved Mercury over and pointed behind her. There were about 30 to 35 people being treated by doctors behind her.  
  
"What happened?" Mercury asked, continuing to scan and log information, most of the people that were being treated seemed to have trace amounts of the red head's power clinging to them.  
  
"I'm not sure. According to the crowd these people just appeared here in a flash of light just before all hell broke loose inside mall. Mars went inside almost immediately. Then the explosions started to go off.  
  
"Explosions?"  
  
"Yeah, little one's, Mars says our killer was fighting a Youma in there, she was winning too. She seemed to be absorbing the monsters energy attacks, her power increase leveled a couple of stores according to Mars' last report a few minutes before she called you."  
  
Mercury listened with half an ear and impute the information into her mini-computer even as it scanned. She detected the signs of a small fight, and numerous broken windows within the mall, but no major damage to anything else except a couple of stores. "According to this most of the mall is intact, just broken windows and some walls."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yeah, who said that everything was leveled?"  
  
"Some of the people in this crowd, Mars never said anything about anything being leveled now that I've had time to think about it." Jupiter said.  
  
Mercury glances at a small bar graph on her computer and compares it to the other readings she had earlier, the red head was moving. Looking up at the roof of the building Mercury watches as a flare of red energy envelops the red head as she stands at the edge of the roof and launches into the air and quickly vanishes into the distance.   
  
No one else seems to see her so she just notes the time down and relaxes again. They were not ready for a direct confrontation with the girl just yet. She would let the others know about it later. "Readings are going back to normal Jupiter, whatever happened in there has ended. Our target has vanished as well. I got a minor reading off to the east in Nerima."  
  
Sailor Mars is coming out of the mall just as Moon and Venus arrive, gasping for air. The crowd cheers as Moon moves through them, Venus signs a few autographs after she looks to Mercury to see if they are still needed. She smiles when Mercury shakes her head and goes back to the crowd.  
  
"What happened guys?" Sailor Moon asks.  
  
"Some kind of marshmallow Youma, the red head took it out before I could even get there. I've never seen someone use so much power to blow away a simple Youma." Mars says.  
  
"I took some readings and found that she was almost 12 times as powerful as she was when we attacked her yesterday. Readings indicate that the red head either absorbed the monsters powers or somehow increased her strength in some unknown way within the last few hours. After the fight her power levels continued to climb as she headed for the roof. From there she seemed to disappear, I picked up a faint reading a few seconds later in the Nerima ward."  
  
"Nerima? What in the world is there?" Venus asked.  
  
"Isn't that the place that is like, the third weirdest spot in all of Tokyo?" Jupiter asked.  
  
"Yes, it is nearly as odd as Juban and Tomobiki."  
  
"Let's get over there and take her out, she is trying to kill us I tell you. We need to..."  
  
"Quiet Mars, we are in this situation because of your rash decision." Moon said and stalked off to leaves Mars and the others behind.  
  
"Excuse me?" Mars squeaks out. 'Since when did the Meatball Head say things like that?'  
  
Mercury and Jupiter just blink in surprise and shrug, there were times when Usagi was just to hard to read.  
  
*********  
  
After making some alterations to her clothing, giving the midnight black shirt a silver edging she examined herself and made sure it all looked good. Then she put a hair band in her hair and walked out of the park with her sunglasses on. She quickly noted that she was indeed back in Nerima as she had thought when she landed and adjusted her objective to a nearby restaurant called the 'Cat Cafe'.   
  
It took her a second to remember why the name was familiar, but figured it wouldn't be a problem if she was careful. She walked in and immediately noticed that the place was packed with customers and very Chinese, she turned to a tall man wearing a pair of coke bottle glasses waiting to greet her and told him table for one. In Chinese.  
  
*Table for one please.*  
  
*We don't get that many customers in here that speak this language, it is good to hear it again.*  
  
*No problem.* Amy said as Mouse lead her to a corner table and handed her a menu.  
  
*What can I get for you?*  
  
*Well, how about 4 bowls of the house ramen. I am very hungry.*  
  
*Sure thing, and call me Mus Tse.*  
  
"Mousse?"  
  
"I know, it's a bit weird, but it's how it translates into Japanese."  
  
Moose led her over to a table and she sat down, placing her pack beside her. Within a matter of minutes he was back and placed 4 bowls in front of her and quickly disappeared. Amy scarfed down the first two in a matter of seconds and took several minutes finishing off the remaining two. Because of where she was she didn't want to be here any longer than she had to be.   
  
If Shampoo decided to attack her while she was there Amy was worried about what would happen to those around them. Grabbing the bill, Amy turned to the cash register and frowned when she noticed that Shampoo was manning the device. This was the girl who had said she was going to kill her if they ever met again, and yet she hadn't even looked in her direction the entire time Amy had been there. Weird.  
  
Strolling over, preparing to defend herself, Amy walked up and handed over the bill and the money. Shampoo didn't even blink, she took both and handed her some change and waved her off. Amy was confused, but decided to go with it, maybe Shampoo wasn't in the mood. Shrugging, Amy headed outside and shouldered her pack and started toward the Tendo Dojo, she was looking forward to seeing Ranma again. It wouldn't be until later that Amy remembered that she was dressed up a lot differently than she had been the last time Shampoo saw her. The glasses and hair band were enough to disguise her from Shampoo's notice.  
  
**********  
  
The walk from the Cat Cafe to the Tendo Dojo takes about fifteen minutes and Amy takes her time wandering around the neighborhood and getting a lay of the area. She finds Dr. Tofu's clinic and moves on to find Uchan's place as well. Amy was glad it was still vacation time from school or she would have had to wait several more hours for Ranma and the others to get home from school. Grinning in relief, Amy knocks on the front gate of the Tendo Dojo and waits as she hears someone coming. A beautiful brown haired girl opens the door, Amy bows and introduces herself. "Good Afternoon my name is Amy Lee, Is Ranma or Nibiki in?"  
  
"Oh my, Ranma or...Nabiki?"  
  
"Yes, Ranma is a friend of mine and he said that you guys might have room to rent for a few weeks while I get settle here in Japan. He mentioned that I would have to rent the room through a Nabiki Tendo."  
  
"They are both here, I'm Kasumi Tendo, please follow me."  
  
"Thank you Kasumi, I hope I'm not interrupting anything important am I?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
Amy notes that the older girl has a fantastic body and moves with a grace even more pronounced than some of the better fighters she had met, there was a hidden skill there that very few would have noticed if they hadn't been looking. The fact that this was Kasumi of all people surprised Amy, but she put that to the side as she wondered what style of Martial Arts the girl had studied to become that graceful and unassuming. Amy was pretty sure it wasn't Anything Goes, she didn't move like Ranma had yesterday. "Can I ask you a question Tendo-san?"  
  
"Go ahead."  
  
"What style of Martial Arts do you practice? You are very graceful and move in a manner that reminds me of trained fighter, but I can't place it."  
  
Kasumi stiffens and looks around, as if expecting someone to jump out of the wood work of the beautiful house. She nervously hunches up and shivers, Amy springs forward and wraps the girl in a hug, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you any pain, you don't have to tell me. I won't take any offence, I was just curious."  
  
"I-it's alright, it has been several years since anyone has even noticed me as anything other than the nice lady in the background. Even longer since anyone has taken the time to notice that I still practice the Martial Arts. I am a Master of Ti Chi and Anything Goes Homemaker Ken. The last was taught to me by my mother before she passed away about 7 years ago."  
  
"Homemaker Ken...as in house cleaning, cooking, and such?" Amy let Kasumi go and stepped back, still holding her hands and looked her in the face.   
  
"I practice almost everyday as I move around the house dusting, mopping, cleaning, washing. It's amazing what can be turned into a kata."  
  
"That is amazing, I thought I had encountered all of the different styles of Martial Arts in my time, but I have never heard of that one. Do you ever spar?"  
  
"You want to spar with me?" Kasumi asked in surprise and blushed.  
  
"Yes, if you like, I always like to test my skills and learn new styles to make life interesting again."  
  
"It has been a long time since I had anyone to spar with, I may be out of practice..."  
  
"Nonsense, and even if you are I'll bet you would love the challenge. I can see it in your eyes. You're as lonely as me."  
  
"As lonely as you? What caused that?"  
  
"I am under a kind of blessing/curse and it has dominated my entire life for years, I can't get close to anyone for more than anything closer than friendship or a quick affair in fear of having my world crash down on me in grief again. I have to be careful just who I allow into my heart." Amy said.  
  
"What kind of curse?" Is it anything like Ranma's?  
  
"I can not die, ever, I am immortal. I had to watch everyone in my family grow old and die before my eyes, as I stayed just like this. If I fell in love with anyone I had to watch them grow old and die on me time and again and each time the grief was even worse than the one before. So I have to isolate myself and try to keep my distance as much as possible and still have a few friends that I know that I can talk to."  
  
"Do you always tell complete strangers that?" Kasumi said with a smile.  
  
"Nope, just those people who can take the knowledge and who I want to have as a friend. I don't like to keep secrets from my friends."  
  
"Of course I'll be your friend Amy, I like you already."  
  
"I would like that as well Kasumi, lets head on inside."  
  
They entered the house and Amy noted that the place was bigger than it seemed, it had a large living room and a set of stairs that led upstairs. On the far side of the living room were a set of sliding doors that led into a large back yard and she could just make out a large Dojo off to the side, probably connected to the house in some way. An older man with long hair was staring at her from in front of a game board of some kind, there was a panda stealing playing pieces and rearranging the board.  
  
"Mr. Saotome, you shouldn't do that, where is the challenge?" Amy admonished him.  
  
Genma-panda started to sweat as Soun whipped back around and glared at him. Genma-panda held up a sign, 'I have no idea what you are...flip...talking about...flip...I'm just a cute panda!' Soun used the distraction to make the board more to his own favor and grinned as he wasn't caught. Genma-panda glared at his friend as he rolled around with the tire that he had pulled out of nowhere and grophed at him.  
  
"Amy, Ranma and Akane are out in the Dojo practicing if you want to go and see them. I also found a note from Nabiki that said that she would be back in a couple of hours, she had some errands to run." Kasumi said as she suddenly reappeared beside Amy and handed her a cup of tea. Amy shook her head as she realized that she hadn't even noticed the girl leave the room or switch sides on her as she talked to Ranma's father. Kasumi giggled and disappeared into the kitchen.  
  
She made her way through the house and out into the back yard and over to the Dojo, the sounds of frustrated anger could be heard inside as Ranma was probably dodging away like mad as Akane tried to hit him. A situation the Amy remembered tended to piss Akane off to no end. Amy found the main door and quietly slid it open and stepped inside, she was right on all accounts. Akane was so enraged that she was like a berserker on steroids, wild swings full of power and no form, sloppy kicks strong enough to shatter stone, and had an aura of pure rage surrounded her.  
  
On the other hand, Ranma was bouncing around her like a giant cricket, ducking under kicks, vaulting over punches, and dodging at such speeds that he had multiple images of himself moving all over the place. Ranma's form was magnificent and inspired, Akane's was fraying at the edges as her frustration grew, this continued until Amy decided to stop the completely useless sparring match. She stood up, gathered her Ki and clapped her hands once. Like a thunder clap, the noise filled the Dojo and caused both fighters to lose focus and fall on their faces in shocked surprise.  
  
A startled Ranma stared at her for a few seconds before he recognized her. His glare changed to a grin as he lost his train of thought and started to look a little embarrassed. Akane saw this and just glared pure hatred at her, figuring that Ranma had found yet another fiancé or girlfriend to play around with. Amy on the other hand was looking at Akane, the girl was cute, but she couldn't see anything about her that would make Ranma so infatuated with her, she figured it must have been one of those circumstances things.   
  
"Ranma, I'm disappointed in you, you're hurting Akane by playing with her like this. You should know better, her fighting abilities are horrible from what I saw, she is consumed with rage and totally unfocused. Congratulations, you made her into the perfect victim." Amy said arrogantly, smirking at Ranma.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I'm not a V-victim!"  
  
"Really Akane, can you even take a punch anymore? Can you remember the last time you broke a bone or performed some kind of body hardening practice?" Amy said. "Since I came out here to spar, I figure I can do so with either of you. Akane, I challenge you to a no holds bared match, winner is the last one standing and has to...oh, I don't know...kiss Ranma's when he is a girl."  
  
"What?! Who in the hell are you to call me that!"  
  
"Hey!" Ranma yelled and blushed.  
  
*********  
  
To Be Continued… 


	4. Strange Days03 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sence if one looked at it closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com   
  
**********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 03  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
"Akane don't, she defeated Shampoo even quicker than I could..." Ranma yelled. You could see his pride and emotions warring with each other on his face.  
  
"I accept!" Akane yelled, completely ignoring Ranma as he tried to stop her.  
  
Akane jumped to her feet and made her way to the center of the Dojo and began doing a few stretches. Amy just stepped out on to the floor and calmly watched as Akane got ready for the match, she had always wondered just how good Akane was. This should be interesting, she thought, Akane should take this fight seriously if I hit her a few times and that'll make her fight all that much harder.   
  
"Ranma, stay out of this fight, it is a challenge and I will not have you interfering." Amy said. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye as he seemed to figure out what she was doing. After a couple of minutes Akane stopped stretching and took up her place across from Amy. "Call it!" Amy yelled.  
  
"Fight!" Ranma yelled.  
  
Akane shot forward, leading with a forward punch that was strong enough to shatter stone, Amy just stood there and waited for it to hit. When the punch connected, the look of surprise on Akane's face was all the opening Amy needed as she pivoted with the force of the blow, her legs bent and she used the opening that was so confidently provided as she grabbed Akane's arm and shoulder threw her to the floor behind her.   
  
Amy appeared not to have even felt the blow to her face as she hopped back out of range, but she did notice the panicked expression on Ranma's face. He was on his feet and half a step toward them as if he was going to try and stop the fight, shaking her head made him stop and give her a panicked look of despair.  
  
"Get up Akane, I barely used any force with that, are you so out of shape that a simple throw could cause you to be taken out of this fight already?"  
  
"Not yet!" Akane snarled and sprang to her feet, and launched at Amy again a move that was almost exactly what she had just done.   
  
"Quit leaving yourself open Akane, you're a trained fighter you should know better! There are more holes in that attack than I can count!" Amy barely pivoted as she tagged 7 vital spots on Akane's body in less than a second, this was followed by an uppercut that sent the girl flying into the wall. Amy snapped back into position and leveled a glare at Akane. She had thought Akane would be better than this even after she called the girl a perfect victim. It looked like she was closer to the mark than she had thought.  
  
"Amy, stop it! You've proved your point!" Ranma yelled, unable to physically stop a challenge match.  
  
Amy ignored him and waited as Akane dragged herself to her feet and took her stance once again. Amy smiled and decided to see just how far she could push the girl, but made a note not to go to far. Akane did not have the kind of training that she and Ranma had endured over the years. "Very good Akane, but you are barely tapping your full potential. Use the knowledge of your school, I've seen Ranma fight and you are of the same school, focus beyond your rage and the pain fight me like you were trained to!"  
  
Akane snarled jumped backwards in a move she had been practicing lately when Ranma wasn't around, and launched off the wall behind her like Ranma did when he rebounded off things, her unfocused aura of rage lending her strength and speed. Amy stood her ground and blocked everything Akane sent at her, every few seconds she would lash out and tag Akane along her body, her face, legs, and back. As the minutes passed and Akane slowed down considerably, she just did not have the endurance she needed for this fight. Amy would then taunt her until her rage came back and it would start all over again. 5 minutes turned into half an hour and by this time Akane was covered in bruises, but she was starting to smile as she realized what Amy was doing to her.   
  
I will not give in, I will win this, Akane chanted in her head as she was tossed around the dojo. Then she did a spinning foot sweep and watched in slow motion as Amy lashed out and hit a number of pressure points along her back, spun over her, landed in a crouch and back handed her across the jaw hard enough to rattle her brains. Akane flew back like a rocket, but instead of panicking like she would usually have done, she watched dispassionately as she thrust her bruised and bleeding arms out and used her Ki to bounce off the floor, to the wall and rebounded back off the ceiling and launched herself toward Amy, both of them glowing with red Ki.  
  
To Ranma they looked like a pair of rage possessed angels trying to kill each other, he glanced to the side and saw that the entire household was there watching the fight. Ranma winced as he realized that he hadn't even known they were there and hoped his old man hadn't noticed. He saw a large mix of emotions on their faces too, in Soun he saw fear and pride as his daughter battled with all her heart, in Nabiki her couldn't see any emotion at all...then he saw a flicker of absolute terror...then it vanished, in Kasumi he saw concern and awe and...envy? Then there was his Oyaji...heh...stealing a snack out of the refrigerator in the kitchen, Ranma made a note to smack the crap out of him later.  
  
"Move Akane, you can do better than this, you aren't even breathing hard! Let your training run your body, don't fight it or force it to respond, your training has already taught your body how to fight. Flow like water, stride like a dragon sure and proud of your strength." Amy did another minor pivot and stabbed Akane a dozen times along her chest, neck, and along her arms, while at the same time Amy had her eyes locked onto Akane's. "Focus beyond the rage Akane! You are not a berserker, you are human and can control yourself, use your rage don't let it control you!" Amy reached out and grabbed Akane's wrists in a flash of speed and delivered a savage kick to her stomach and sent her flying.  
  
Akane growled as she stood back up and glared at her enemy, her hated...enemy. She knew she was past rational thought on the outside, but she could see everything happening seconds before it happened, like she was seeing into the future as she fought. She struggled to get her control back, she would win this, she would survive this beating, the worst one she had taken in years. Her aura was lighting up the entire Dojo with its power and she watched the shadows for a second as she contemplated the next attack. Behind her she could hear her father crying as he watched her berserker fury at full force, she would win.  
  
Amy finally saw what she was looking for in the girl's eyes, her mind was beginning to learn how to focus the massive power of her rage. Of all the emotions to use as a Ki focus, the darker emotions were the ones that caused the most damage, to both sides. The only way that one could use it effectively and stay in control was to learn at the feet of one that could control the rage, shape it, focus it and when that was accomplished they would be reborn from the fires of battle and Amy was one of those people. It wouldn't happen during this battle, or the next, but it would happen and Akane was a quick learner when she put her rage to a proper use. Akane screamed and used her aura to launch herself forward, a ball of pure Rage Ki formed in her hands and she instinctively fired it right at Amy.  
  
To everyone's surprise, Amy stopped and dropped her guard and let the Ki hit her, it exploded and sent Amy flying through the front wall of the Dojo and out into the yard. Everyone watched in surprise as she climbed out of the crater her body had made and calmly walked back into the hall and up to Akane. Akane was frozen in shock, she had tried to kill, to destroy her enemy and had failed. What was she, a god, how could anyone survive a blast like that and survive? Her berserker rage screamed, she growled and charged her enemy with her hands out and curled into claws.  
  
Amy stood there calmly facing Akane as her aura flared up for a few seconds before the blue bracer on her left forearm flared up and a blue aura formed around her in a halo of power, a feeling of peace filled the hall as Amy's new aura expanded out to touch everyone in the hall. Akane slid to a stop and gasped as she felt her emotions being attacked from all sides by the calming influence of the aura, she slid to her knees and didn't react as Amy walked forward and ran her finger along Akane's jaw. Akane's rage vanished completely, she collapsed and then started to glow blue as Amy surrounded the both of them in her new aura. The silence of the hall was shattered as Kasumi gasped and pointed at Akane's bruises and cuts. They were sealing over and fading at a fantastic rate.  
  
Soun gasped. "The Healing Aura, to think that I would live to see such a thing!" He said and burst into happy tears.  
  
Nabiki was just happy her little sister was going to be alright, but was still glaring at the red head she had initially thought was Ranma because of they had the same color hair.  
  
Kasumi was in the kitchen smiling at the panda on the ground in front of the empty refrigerator. The panda belched and groaned as its stomach grumbled at the abuse, well grumbled in satisfaction anyway.  
  
Amy turned to Ranma and scowled at him, "That is how you train a fighter Ranma, you don't dodge everything, by holding back you make the fighter week and sloppy. You have trained for over 10 years now by going all out in your battles, what makes your sparring fights with Akane any different? She is not at your skill level, so you take her on at just beyond what she can take.   
  
You hit her with just enough force to bruise and enough power to knock sense onto one's head. Do you understand? Because of this fight, the pressure points that I touched, and the healing I just did, Akane will be a little sore for a couple of days, but otherwise fine. After that she will have recovered completely, gotten better access to her Ki, and will be able to withstand more damage." Amy lectured.  
  
Ranma hung his head.  
  
"In six months I could have Akane holding her own against you Ranma, she has that much potential. Your 'I won't hit girls attitude' is a weakness Ranma. You do know that don't you?"  
  
"I am not weak!"  
  
"How many times has Akane been kidnapped because she couldn't protect herself from harm Ranma?"  
  
"..."  
  
"That's what I thought. Being unable to protect herself against enemies that give you a challenge is a weakness in you. Now, enough with the pansy crap." Amy stood up with a sigh.  
  
"Ow! Did you have to do that?" Akane growled from the floor, her entire body hurt, clear to the bone.  
  
"Yep, get up and bow so that we can finish our challenge. We will continue with this fight until one of us is can knock the other out, and don't forget what we are fighting for." Amy grinned lecherously.  
  
Akane stood up painfully, but she managed to bow and end the match. "You can already do that..."  
  
"True, but I will train you like this until you can give me a real fight."  
  
With that Amy walked over to her pack and looked over at the one girl she hadn't met yet. "Are you Tendo Nabiki?"  
  
She glared at the tall red head and nodded. "I am."  
  
"Since I'm going to be train Akane for the next little while, do you have a room that I can rent for a couple of weeks."  
  
"We do...but..."  
  
"I said rent and I meant it, here, is this enough for the first week?" Amy tossed the girl a large wad of bills. "That is for the room, any food that I may eat, and the use of the furo."  
  
Nabiki slowly counted the money and realized that she was holding 50,000. She looked at her father and he nodded. "Deal, this much again in a week and it covers room, board, and comforts." With that she turned and left, everyone but Kasumi, who had returned from the kitchen, and Ranma filed out of the room. Amy called out to Akane before she left.   
  
"Akane, we both use our rage to focus our Ki, I am doing this because you are on the verge of going into a killing rage and that must be prevented at all costs. You could kill someone you care about while in that state and I don't want you to go through what I did. I hope you will forgive me for what you will go through over the next few days. Do you agree to my training?"  
  
"Yes...I suppose."  
  
"It is going to be very hard..."  
  
"I don't care."  
  
"Then go and change into your jogging outfit and run your usual rout, you will be doing this 3 times a day for the next few weeks. Your physical strength is on par with Ryoga now a days, but you don't have the endurance to last that long and you need that before our fights go to the next level, then we are going to get more and more brutal until you can control your rage."  
  
"Hai Sensei." Akane bowed and limped out of the Dojo.  
  
"Yes Kasumi-san?"  
  
"Did you have to go so hard on her?"  
  
"Yes I did. I don't know if anyone of you saw, but I was pressing certain pressure points on Akane as we fought. Most of them were the points needed to free up the flow of Ki inside one's own body, others were to dull pain, another set to calm her anger and make her focus even more. You all saw that aura, it was huge and very dangerous, I am skilled enough to be able to negate or lessen the damage done by her Ki blasts, as I demonstrated earlier.   
  
What she let off was actually strong enough to have leveled most of this house, the Dojo, and a good portion of the block. She needs control or she will fall into her berserker state whenever someone makes her even the littlest bit angry." Amy smiles innocently at a shocked Ranma, she bats her eye lids and smirks at him, she knew where to place the blame.  
  
"Alright, so this is partially my fault for pushing her?"  
  
"Actually I would blame who ever has been pushing her buttons for years. Whoever has been making her so angry needs to be stopped or she will lash out at them in ever harder and hard engagements."  
  
**********  
  
Akane soon left the house and went for a jog. Amy tagged along to see just how far she went and if there was anything along the rout that needed to be changed or increased. Along the way she had Akane jumping up on the walls, vaulting over trash cans, and throwing punches and kicks while she was in the air. This would have been fine normally, but she had just taken the worst beating of her life and was in more than a little pain. Amy just grinned and continued to push her, this was getting fun too. She wondered if there was chance of ever training the girl to defeat Ranma at least once.  
  
A couple miles into the run Amy bounced off a wall, followed by Akane as she panted for air, and landed on the side walk. From there they moved into a fast walk as they turned the corner for the last mile of the jog and used it for a cool down period. "Akane, tell me, what are you looking for in the future?"  
  
"In the future?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm kind of curious."  
  
"I haven't put to much thought into it, go to collage, make friends, learn to cook, and finally learn how to fight." Akane gasped out as she stumbled along, she was on the verge of passing out.  
  
"That's all?"  
  
"Yep, I guess, why?"  
  
"I just thought it would include more I guess."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I don't know, one of the things I have always wanted is something that I can not have anymore. A family, a husband or a wife, kids, maybe even be able to be fully happy one day."  
  
A husband or a...Wife!? What is she a Pervert? Akane felt something a little strange and edged away from the girl that was going to be training her in Martial Arts. Was she gay? She really didn't want to deal with another pervert, Ranma was more than enough. These thoughts and several others along those lines occupied Akane's mind as they walked. The several little scenes that flashed in her mind had Akane blushing by the time they finally reached the house.   
  
Luckily Akane was so flushed from running and training that it wasn't as noticeable as it would have been. Amy told Akane to go and soak in the furo for a half hour before supper was ready and to use the muscle relaxing oils that Kasumi had available. As Akane leapt to it, Amy just shook her head and wondered if the girl could be any more unobservant. All that strength and power and the girl had more fatal flaws than a shattered piece of glass, one little hit and she would be taken out.  
  
Amy stepped into the kitchen and smiled at Kasumi as she prepared supper, or what would have been supper if the Panda hadn't eaten everything in the refrigerator. From the looks of things it was going to cheese and crackers for supper, Amy kicked the panda as it lay before the refrigerator. Amy waved "hi" to the moron even as Kasumi turned around in surprise. Genma held up a sign that said *Ignore the cute panda on the floor*   
  
This made Amy just shake her head as she stepped over him and opened up the door that lead to the side of the house, she could just make out a large bush and a part of the wall that ran around the property. "Don't try to move Panda. I kicked a shiatsu point that paralyzed you for a few minutes. Your greedy stomach has caused enough problems for the rest of the family don't you think, you need to go for a walk to get rid off all that stuff you ate. I mean look at the mess you left behind." Amy said as she grinned down at the paralyzed panda.  
  
"Well your in luck Panda, you just earned yourself a one way trip via Amy Lee Airways. Now unlike Akane I don't use a Mallet to do my launching. No, nothing so crude as that. Instead I use this." Amy ran a few steps forward kicked the hairy brute through the door, over the wall, and into the distance. She smiled as he became a small spot on the horizon and disappeared.  
  
"Oh My!" Kasumi said, for once smiling happily. "That wasn't very nice Amy."  
  
"Maybe, but it wasn't why are you smiling like that?" Amy said back with a smirk as Kasumi busied herself with trying to get dinner ready. "Lets see, Cheese and crackers, huh?"  
  
"I'm afraid that is all we have left, Mr. Saotome ate everything else."  
  
"Well you set that out as a snake and call in some take out."  
  
"I'm afraid we don't have the money."  
  
"Sure you do, I just gave Nabiki 50,000 yen for a weeks rent and food. That should be more than enough to order dinner."  
  
"Your right Amy, thank you!" Kasumi said and went to find Nabiki, who was in her room drooling over the aforementioned money.  
  
Amy looked up when she heard Akane and Ranma getting into another fight, down near the bathroom. Had Ranma walked in on her again or something? She wondered to herself as the image of Akane screaming "RANMA NO BAKA!!" and the impact of a body going through a wall filled the air. It took a second to find the bathroom because Amy didn't know the lay out of the Tendo home just yet, but she was just in time to see a female Ranma sliding out of a hole in the wall as Akane stood over her with a large glowing mallet in her hands. Akane had a reddish black aura swirling around her making her hair shift around under its intensity. It was a perfect example of Akane's lack of control.  
  
Kasumi wandered back down stairs with a bit of money in her hands. Amy would have sworn she could hear Nabiki crying as her door closed, but shrugged it off as impossible for the Ice Queen of Furinkan High. Kasumi looked around the corner and noticed the destruction and the prone Ranma. She looked a little sad as the red head groaned and tried to stand up, Akane just raised her mallet again and prepared to pound the 'pervert' back down before he could do anything to her.  
  
"I'm going to go and check on that." Amy said.  
  
"Thank you, I don't have time to go and see how much damage they did this time, but with your training I expect them to happen more often."  
  
"Does that girl really have so little control of herself, how in the world did she survive this long without anyone making an example of her?"  
  
"She has always had a very bad temper, but it has gotten so much worse since Ranma and his father showed up. Ranma just can't seem to help himself and Akane can not forgive him for anything."  
  
"That's to bad, hopefully she is able to learn quickly enough to be able to control that mega temper of hers. My training should help with that, but if she doesn't make an effort on her end of things no amount of training is going to help her."  
  
Amy moved forward just as Ranma stood up and was on the receiving end of another blow with the mallet, this time Ranma gasped as she went flying through a wall and right into the pond. Moving through the path of destruction, Amy wading into the water and grabbed the red head's arm and pulled her out of the pond. A quick blow to the back and Ranma was coughing up the water she had swallowed. She looked to be in pretty bad shape too, but Amy could see the girl's aura flaring around the wounds and healing her body as fast as it could. If anything, at least Ranma had some incredible control of her aura.  
  
This was the aspect of Ranma's life she had never cared for, the constant beatings for something the boy had never done, or the strange conclusions that Akane seemed to jump too because she was incapable of trusting Ranma. Akane did this constantly, and though the beatings did for Ranma, what the Breaking Point did for Ryoga, Amy found it just a little bit hard to believe that anyone who beat another human being like this could feel any love for that person.   
  
Ranma groaned and opened her eyes. They were a little blood shot and dilated. She nearly fainted again as a wave of dizziness washed over her, but controlled the feeling as she saw that Amy Lee was holding her. Ranma blushed as she noticed that her head was in Amy's lap. "Huh?"  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, this happens all the time."  
  
"Why do you let it?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"As I said earlier, you need to get past your fear of hurting Akane, but that doesn't mean you can't try and dodge her hammer blows or block them."  
  
"You just don't understand..."  
  
"Your right, I don't understand why anyone would put up with her doing that. Its cruel and dangerous behavior, and from what I've seen and heard so far, Akane isn't going to stop hitting you. The beatings are going to just get worse and worse until she finally manages to learn some control over that temper or does something the will actually hurt or cripple you."  
  
"Sheesh...yeah right."  
  
"I can't just make you two be friends Ranma, but I do believe you need to make her confront her rage. Think of her as a loose cannon ready to go off at a moments notice."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I am immortal Ranma, which has given me a lot of experience in certain areas of life. I have watched and participated in more than one relationship over the years Ranma and I can tell that yours is a powder keg just waiting to go off."   
  
"I know, but there is nothing I can do about it."  
  
"There are always decisions to make Ranma. It is just a matter of being man enough to do what is right for all those involved. A little pain here is a lot better than what could happen if Akane manages to kill someone." Amy's looked down and stared Ranma in the eyes, she smiled. "I still think your cute Ranma, but to get involved in your fiancée problems would hurt you and all of your friends. I can give you advice as I would any friend, but it is up to you to use it as you see fit. These choices are yours to make, not for everyone else to make for you, but the longer you wait the worse they will become."  
  
"Ah...well...you see..."  
  
"You don't need to answer them immediately, but some time in the next few months. Now get up and go and apologies to Akane."  
  
"But I didn't do anything wrong..."  
  
"Of that I am agreement, but it doesn't matter, I want her in a good mood tonight. Not pounding you to a pulp a the dinner table."  
  
"Humph."  
  
Amy giggled and pulled Ranma to her feet. "You are just so cute when you do that!"  
  
"Ah...well..." Ranma said with a blush.  
  
Giggle  
  
"C-can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure, go ahead."  
  
"Did you mean it when you said that my curse didn't bother you?"  
  
"Yes I did, why?"  
  
"I just don't get it, everyone I talk to about it tells me the same thing, and yet they tend to shy away from me when ever I change or might change. You on the other hand, seem to prefer me as a girl and I just don't get it."  
  
Amy blushed and felt herself falling into Ranma's blue eyes, she wasn't sure what to say. "..."  
  
"You are also only the second girl I have ever met who asked to be my friend without trying to become my wife or take me as a trophy."  
  
"I would never take you as a trophy! Maybe something else though..." Amy giggled and punched him in the ribs.  
  
"Everyone, super is here!" Kasumi yelled to everyone in the house as she sat out the take out orders for everyone.  
  
Ranma and Amy made their way inside as Kasumi met them and poured hot water on Ranma and handed him a towel as he changed back into a man. As the rest of the family trickled in, Amy noted that Ranma took Akane aside and quietly apologized to her. Akane smiled and nearly blinded everyone in the room, and then proceeded to pound the crap out of him, screaming curses.  
  
Amy watched horrified and found herself in motion before she could decide on a course of action. Even as Ranma's head was slammed through the floor boards, Amy's fist was slamming into Akane's jaw and knocking her cold. As Akane collapsed, Amy looked around and noticed that no one seemed to even be paying attention.  
  
"Are you alright Amy?" Kasumi asked as she knelt down beside her with a wet wash cloth."  
  
"Kasumi, what is wrong with Akane? I asked Ranma to apologies to her for making her angry and she does this? Doesn't she care about him at all?"  
  
"Yes she does, but she doesn't know how to express her feelings with out admitting she is less than she is. I think she also has a mind disease called 'Rage Disorder', but the only way to prove it would be to take her to a doctor and she is too prideful to admit she has a problem." Kasumi whispered.  
  
Amy sighed. There were countless dimensions where Akane killed Ranma, either with her cooking or the Mallet. She had been here maybe 2 days and already she had to deal with a situation like this. She wasn't very good at them either, she was a warrior and proud of it, not a relation ship expert. She had no experience with resolving matters of the heart. Sure she could talk a good story, but she had failed more times than she cared to admit when it came to the real thing. Now Ranma needed her, somebody and she was at a loss for what to do. How could Akane pound him for following her advice?  
  
Oh yeah, if Ranma even has the vaguest hint of another girl chasing after him Akane was known to go ballistic, could this be because she had helped Ranma out of the pond so he wouldn't drown? Everything was his fault according to Akane's way of thinking and that meant that Ranma would get pounded almost daily. Amy remembered that Akane's way of thinking was almost identical to Ryoga's except that the girl was supposed to actually care for Ranma. So far Amy hadn't seen any sign of that.  
  
"What should I do Kasumi? I'm out of my element here. I was trying to help out and this is the result?"  
  
"Don't take it too hard, both Nabiki and I have tried to help Akane out, but nothing has ever worked."  
  
Amy shook her head and stood up with Ranma's limp body in her arms and dragged him back to the dinner table. She figured that if anything would wake him up it would be food. The rest of the family ignored them as Amy slowly got Ranma to wake up, there was a bit of blood dripping off his lip a rather large bruise forming on the side of his head. The only person that noticed was Nabiki and she was giving her little sister a weird look. Kasumi smiled as Ranma came to and handed him and ice pack for his head as she began to distribute the food.   
  
Still, it was pretty obvious to both Amy and Kasumi that Ranma was running on autopilot, his eyes were slightly out of focus and the fact that she was gnawing on a dish rag, again, showed just how out of it she really was. Amy had to suppress a giggle as she watched the glazed look on his face as he tried to figure out why he couldn't bite through the dish rag. Amy wondered if she should bother to call Dr. Tofu for this kind of thing. She knew that Ranma had easily survived things like this before so wasn't' all that worried, but the amount of damage he had suffered was pretty extensive.  
  
After supper Amy had helped Ranma up the stairs to his bedroom and lay him out on his futon. The oddest thing about the situation was that both Genma and Soun seemed completely oblivious to her even when she was in the same room as Ranma. Even after Amy had decked Akane into unconsciousness they had barely noticed, she thought his was a bit odd but didn't think about it to much until she remembered that Akane's father was known to break into tears at the slightest hint of danger to his daughter. At the very least Amy had expected to witness the fabled Demon Head technique that was reputed to be able to freeze one's Ki and make them completely immobile.  
  
Instead Amy had experienced nothing, nothing of any kind whatsoever, not even a glare or a worried glance. This worried Amy more than anything else because it meant that Soun had something on his mind that was more important than his own children, at least in Amy's opinion. After getting Ranma settled in for the night and resisting the urge to feel the boy up, Amy headed downstairs to see what was going on.  
  
"Kasumi?"  
  
"Yes, Amy?"  
  
"I'm going to go for a walk."  
  
"OK."  
  
A preoccupied Amy waved goodbye to her friend and headed out the front door, she had a lot of things to think about. There was something wrong, she could feel it in the air around her and her senses were trying to warn her of something. She was only gone for a few minutes when Ranma came stumbling downstairs still holding her head and headed directly for the furo. Kasumi decided to not tell anyone so that Ranma could get some time to relax and calm down, his day had been quite hectic. More so than normal.  
  
Amy returned about 20 minutes later and found Ranma sitting on the couch with Akane's head in her lap. Even after all this time the girl still hadn't woken up and Amy wondered if she had hit the girl harder than she thought. Akane has a rather large bruise on the side of her face to match the one on Ranma. He was currently giving her a weird look as she made her way across the front room.  
  
"Amy?"  
  
"What's up Ranma?"  
  
"Kasumi said as they you punched Akane after she hit me with her mallet?"  
  
Amy sighed, sadly. "Yes I did, she deserved it for what she did to you."  
  
"I can handle my own problems Amy."  
  
"Ranma, she used a weapon to slam your head through the floor boards. I've have never seen anything as cruel as that perpetrated against someone, someone that actually seems to care about them and I had to do something to stop her or you would have been seriously hurt."  
  
"Still..."  
  
"My reaction was almost instinctual, Ranma. I didn't even think about before I did it, my training has sometimes made me react before I even have time to think about it. You were in danger and I didn't even think about it, you were hit and the next thing I know is that Akane is on the ground. I do apologize for my actions though"  
  
"You hurt Akane..."  
  
Amy smiled sadly and shook her head, "I'm sorry Ranma, but, I do not mean I'm sorry for hitting Akane, she deserved that. I am sorry for asking you to apologize to her in the first place, I was trying to help you out and only made it worse. I would never have asked that of you if I had known what her reaction would be, I still can't believe she pounded you for doing that. It was completely uncalled for."  
  
Ranma nodded, him and Akane may have called off the engagement with each other, but he wasn't about to let such a thing go unpunished either. He stood up and looked at Akane sadly for several seconds before motioning for her to head outside. Amy was a bit amazed that   
  
Ranma would do such a thing, this was side of Ranma she had never seen or heard of from anybody. Even though he was no longer engaged to the girl he was still protecting her honor, something Amy thought the youngest Tendo had none of.   
  
Ranma took up a stance and motioned for Amy to do the same, he didn't want to do this, but Akane hadn't deserved what Amy did. At least in his opinion, she hit him all the time and never had to pay for it, why should she start now? Soon the sounds of the battle filled the air as the two warriors tore into each other. As young as Ranma was, he still understood when he had to protect his ex-fiancée's honor. The rest of the family watched in mild surprise and happily placed bets on who would win and how fast, Nabiki always knew how to turn the situation to her advantage, no matter how small it was.  
  
It was several minutes into the fight when Akane finally regained consciousness and sat up to see what was going on. Kasumi came out of the kitchen and handed her little sister the same ice pack Ranma had used earlier, smiled, and quickly disappeared. Akane's memory of what happened was a bit fuzzy, but it quickly returned and she felt a series of conflict he emotions.   
  
She felt the usual anger as always towards Ranma that had become the norm for her life, but she felt nothing but a mixture of confusion and blind rage at Amy for what she had done. Of course that tiny little voice in the back of her mind that tried to remind her that she may have deserved what she got, but it was quickly ground out of existence and the proper perception of reality was reinstated. It was Ranma's fault, the pervert.  
  
Akane knew that she could not beat Amy and a fair fight, but the girl was also willing to train her to be an even better fighter than what she is now. Yet the girl was willing to train her for some reason, Akane just didn't understand what the red head was thinking. Standing up she staggered out the back door onto the porch and watched as Ranma and Amy fought each other. They were bouncing all over the back yard, every few seconds they would connect with each other the hands and feet would fly.  
  
"Baka's, the two of them!" Akane snarled.  
  
"Calm down Akane, she hit you because you put Ranma's head through the floor boards." Nabiki said and pointed the hole in the floor.  
  
"Buzz off Nabiki, she hit me!"  
  
"Grow up Akane, for once I think the punishment was justified. You treat Ranma worse than you do your own enemies."  
  
"How can you say that?"  
  
Nabiki doesn't say anything, but spends several seconds pointing out all the places in the room that had been repaired for one reason or another, most of which was when Akane had decided to punish Ranma. Akane had the decency to look a little embarrassed for what she had done, but quickly forgot about it and placed the blame on Ranma. If he wouldn't insult her and make her made she wouldn't have to punish him. So Akane just folded her arms and pouted, refusing to anything else about the problem.  
  
Nabiki and Kasumi were a bit disappointed in her, but not really surprised. Her past actions were telling enough. Then Akane stood up and summoned her mallet and ran out into the fight, her aura blazing bright.  
  
********  
  
Sailor Mercury was hiding in the shadows across from the Tendo Dojo, she had tracked that red haired girl to this house after she had flown off from the mall incident. She was confused about this girl that Mars and Mask were saying needed to be killed, and it was beginning to show among her team mates. She still got a laugh when she remembered finding Mask tied up on the room in his underwear, he had been almost frothing at the mouth mad too.   
  
On two occasions now the girl had been at the scene of a Youma attack and helped out with the fight or killed the Youma outright while protecting innocents. These were not the actions of a killer and Sailor Moon agreed with her findings as well. The red head had saved Moon's life after all, and yet Mars seemed so adamant about the girl's guilt. Mercury didn't know who to believe really, they both had good reasons for thinking they way they did.  
  
Mars had explained that she had watched as the great fire showed her as this girl killed each and everyone of them in a slow and gruesome manner. The descriptions had been very... graphic, to say the least. Mercury's frustrations were growing too, she wanted to lash out and break something because the clues were just not adding up! Other than that threat she  
  
had issued to them a few days ago in the alley, Mercury was pretty sure that they had only seen the barest fraction of this girl's true power.  
  
Currently she was watching her target and some boy (perhaps a relative?) in the back yard fighting each other. It looked like they were trying to kill each other too. She had never seen anything like it before. They were moving faster than normal eyes could see, jumping 20 to 30ft straight up and fighting at the same time. He computer said they were not using magic in anyway, instead it was picking up gigantic amounts of life force energy being used in the most efficient manner she had ever seen. Even weirder was that they were being watched by several girls, an older man with long hair, and a...Panda? of all things. Every now and then she would say something to the panda and it would hold up a sign with...words written on it.  
  
Mercury had also noticed that on more than one occasion in the last half hour either of the fighters would slam the other into the ground hard enough to throw up a small cloud of dust, only to walk out and yell at the other one and tell them what they did wrong and critique whatever it was they did when they tried to kill each other. She was glad that her Mercury computer was recording this, it would give them something to watch and study. Mercury was also glad that the Dark Kingdom had been defeated a few years ago, the energy being used was a pure form of what they had been collecting.  
  
The red head rebounded of the room and did a spin in mid air to hit the boy, sending him flying back. He used his hands to bounce off the ground and toss some dirt into the girl's face and kick he in the stomach. Mercury could tell there was some power behind the kick, but not enough to really hurt the girl though. The red head landed for a sec and waited for the boy to land, then launched herself at him to exchange a few blows and kicks. Mercury had heard of martial arts, Haruka and Makoto used it, but she had never seen it used on this level before. It was an absolutely fascinating thing to watch, almost like a ballet in some ways.  
  
Beep...beep...beep...  
  
Mercury tapped her earlobe and activated her visor, she had hooked it up to her wrist communicator so that she could talk while transformed and didn't have to depend on the inefficient watch device. "Mercury here."  
  
"Mercury, have you found her?" Asked Venus.  
  
"Yes I have, in Nerima, at a training Dojo run my the Tendo family."  
  
"What about the girl?"  
  
"She is currently sparring with some guy. They are the finest Martial Artist I have ever seen. My readings say they are using their own life force energy to increase their speed, strength, and probably several other things as well."  
  
"What are our chances of taking her?"  
  
"Very slim, if not impossible, as she is now proving to be a better fighter than all of scouts put together, even Haruka wouldn't be able to stop her in a straight out fight."  
  
"That's impossible...what she did..."  
  
"When she killed the first Youma she was using her life force energy and a mix of magical energy she gathered out of the air, the stuff left over from out own magic blasts. The Youma in the mall was taken out with only her life force energy and no magic. Who ever she is she seems to be able to call on several forms of energy."  
  
"What's your opinion on her?"  
  
"Most of our enemies seem to use one dominate form of energy or magic and consider it all powerful enough to handle anything. This girl is beyond my understanding I'm afraid, I do know one thing though. She is not evil."  
  
"B-b-b-b-but s-she threatened us!"  
  
"If I had just saved someone and then got shot in the back for it, I would be a little peeved myself." Mercury stated.  
  
Mercury glanced over at the yard again and winced, one of the other girls had jumped into the fight. She had short hair and the other two seed to be showing her how to do some martial arts moves that were being used earlier, it was being demonstrated by the other two fighters. This third girl wasn't as good as the other two, but her computer was showing that she too possessed allot of power, much of it unfocused.  
  
"What's wrong?" Sailor Moon asked as she entered the conversation.  
  
"There is another girl in the yard being, I think, trained how to fight like the other two. She is at, according to the computer, a little over half as strong as our non super Sailor forms and with her martial arts training she would be able to hold her own against us if she wanted to."  
  
"Mercury, Luna wants to know if you think any of these girls will be coming after us."  
  
"I don't know, the one we attacked is a wild card and I think we should keep our eyes open. Luckily she doesn't know us in our civilian identities and we will be able to stay safe that way."  
  
"Do you think you could contact her Mercury? I want to apologies to her and see if we can settle this."  
  
"I'm not to sure Sailor Moon, she seems to be calm one minute and in a barely controlled rage the next, she is so hard to read. She scares the hell out of me and I know I wouldn't stand a chance against her if she attacked me."  
  
"Please try and contact her Mercury, please, I think she will at least listen to you."  
  
"Hai."  
  
"We should have a meeting over this according to Luna, so let's meet at the temple tomorrow."  
  
"Hai."  
  
Mercury waits until everyone signs off before she turns off her communicator and turns off her visor before she looks back at the Tendo yard. She immediately notices that the dark haired boy and the third girl are still sparing lightly, but her target is missing. She looks around and starts to get a very bad feeling, where in the world could she be? Has she gone into the house for some reason? Standing slowly Mercury turns around and looks right into the eyes of Amy Lee, who is standing less than a foot away from her. Mercury lets out an...Eeep!... and falls on her ass in shock.  
  
Amy smirks and kneels down and blatantly lets her eyes roam over every inch of the girl's body, from her blue pumps to the tips of her blue hair. She was in her Scout Fuku so was currently looking very good to Amy. She especially noticed her great legs and white body suit that made up her panties. "Nice panties, cute stuff." Amy drawled.  
  
Mercury turned a solid red and tried to pull her skirt down, but Amy's eyes continued to bore through her soul. Mercury, whose real name she couldn't remember. Quickly stands up looking like an embarrassed little girl trying to pull her skirt down. Amy grins and waits until she composes herself before standing up as well.   
  
She pays close attention to the girl's face and marvels at the magical field that surrounds the Scouts and protects their identities, she can see the girl's features perfectly, and yet recognition seems to be brushed aside as if she wasn't there. She smiles and mentally undresses the poor girl as she waits.  
  
"Um...ah...I'm Sailor Mercury...a-and..." Sailor Mercury stammers out.  
  
"Ah, one of the girls that tried to kill me." Amy gracefully cocks her head to the side, she had been thinking about what to do to the other scouts for trying to kill her like they did. This little display was giving her some really nasty ideas to play with, it would be the perfect revenge and no one would get hurt. Lets play this to the hilt, maybe one of them will even respond and I won't have to control my natural tendencies any more.  
  
Stepping forward Amy raised her hand and used her fingers to run a finger up Mercury's stomach, between her breasts and around the bow, up her neck and under her chin and to her face so that they could look at each other. Mercury was trembling in her hands and Amy nearly stopped as she realized it was with terror, instead of lust like she was feeling. Leaning in close, Amy brought her face with in millimeters of Mercury's and gazed into her eyes lustfully. The two pools of sapphire blue eyes tripled in size as Amy's intention became clear.  
  
"You and the Scouts tried to kill me the other day Sailor Mercury, that made me very angry, and yet as I calmed down I did some thinking and I have decided to punish you in a non violent way." Amy whispered lustfully, saying the word punish as if it was the most perverted idea  
  
in history.  
  
Mercury was frozen, her entire body had been readying itself for a fight, then this red head had touched her and her body had responded in a way she hadn't anticipated, she had nearly collapsed as her terror of this girl had done a complete 180. She had leaned in close and stared right into her eyes and she saw something that made her blood boil, she had never felt like this! About anyone!   
  
Then she had whispered those words to her and knees went weak as the warm air caressed cheek. Then the most amazing thing happened, she was kissed by another girl and her body responded, her knees buckled and she was caught and held in the girls arms so that she could continue the kiss. Her fingers moved around her body and caressed her back, her thighs (SIGH!), her breasts and ass in the most loving manner she had ever experienced, she moaned loudly and fainted as a surge of ecstasy engulfed her entire being...  
  
  
  
Amy continued the kiss as Mercury's body rushed through her pressure point induced orgasm, she had used them to make her body do it to herself and the girl didn't have a clue. Her own arousal was hard to ignore as it mixed with the thrill of what she had done to the most innocent Sailor Scout of the team. She wanted to continue, but decided that it would not be a good idea right now, she would get her in time. Amy smiled as she laid the girl out on the sidewalk, reached into her subspace pocket and pulled out a note pad. She scribbled a quick note and bounded off, quickly disappearing back into the Tendo Dojo.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	5. Strange Days04 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 04  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
It was early morning and the sun was just peeking out over the horizon an decided to look in one girl with blonde hair as she was sleeping. She was blonde and unlike most girls, for one she snored and giggled in her sleep. This morning the sun was enough to peek around her curtains and focus on her eyes. The made Usagi roll over and kick the blankest and sheets off her in an attempt to get away from the invading light. She also started to shiver as the covers on her bed fell on the floor. They meowed angrily and cursed her a few times before they started to move around on their own.   
  
She groggily woke up enough to notice this, shrugged and decided that sleep was more important than her comfort. Luna, who was entangled in the sheets and blankets, was more than a little annoyed with her charge this morning, as demonstrated by using several old type Silver Millennium curse words to express their displeasure. The girl had stayed up last night watching a movie with Mamoru and fallen asleep in his lap, Luna still wasn't sure what had happened after that since she had been asleep long before that.   
  
The girl could not sleep peacefully either, no, she had been worried about Ami all night as well and this had added to the list of things that Luna didn't want to repeat. An annoyed Usagi was a sight to behold and her nervous pacing had even gotten to Mamoru after awhile. The movie had been his idea to calm her down, and it had, until she had jumped in on a conversation with Mercury and Venus as she tried to track down that girl they had wronged. Luna was of the opinion that Mars was right, after all even if she was harmless if she was dead she wouldn't be in their way.   
  
She had to constantly remember that this age wasn't as harsh as the one she came from and a lot more trusting. Usagi's attitude on this was constantly surprising her too. Luna could care if the enemy survived the encounter, especially if they had started it. Usagi seemed to think differently though and Luna had to respect that, but it didn't stop her from cursing the girl while her back was turned.  
  
After that things had gotten a little better and had settled down again after Mercury had signed off. After going to bed, Usagi had done her usual nightly ritual of tripping around the room, falling down a dozen times, put on her pajamas and hit the sack only to be asleep in less than five seconds. After crawling out from under the dresser and double checking to see if the girl wasn't going to jump up and step on her like she did last week.   
  
Luna had hopped up on the bed by her feet and soon followed her into dream land. Then it had happened at around two in the morning, a knocking at the door leading out to Usagi's little balcony. Luna had gotten up to gripe at or scratch whoever had the guts to wake her up at this time in the morning and looked around the edge of the curtain, claws extended. She saw a dishelved Sailor Mercury standing there, shuddering and shivering.  
  
Luna had gasped, got her attention by tapping on the glass with a claw and motioned for her to wait while she woke up the 'grouchy one'. It had taken nearly 5 minutes to make her even coherent, this included biting her foot, jumping up and down on her, and licking her nose until she sleepily threatened to de-fur her if this wasn't important. After jumping up and down a few more times Usagi had finally rolled up and went to open the balcony door.   
  
Mercury had rushed in and collapsed at Usagi's feet looking like all the demons of hell were after her. Luna had been surprise she wasn't crying, but something in the girl's eyes told her it was something. She had briefly wondered if the original Sailor Mercury's personality had finally returned, but soon tossed that idea. It wasn't supposed to happen for a long time yet.  
  
This had woken up Usagi enough to be alert and decisive, she spent a minute helping her friend over to the bed and sat her down. Ami was latched onto Usagi and wouldn't let go for anything, as if she thought she would die if she did, Luna had never seen anything like it. Usagi could feel her friend's pain and held her for nearly a half hour before she calmed down enough to talk. Ami turned a solid red and buried her face in Usagi's stomach and shuddered as she told them what the girl had done to her and shocked Luna and Usagi speechless.  
  
"That...That's horrible!" Usagi gasped out.  
  
"I don't know what to do Usagi, I've never encountered anything like it..." Ami said quietly.  
  
"She'll pay!" Usagi said her eyes burning with fire.  
  
"She raped you..."  
  
"That's just it Usagi, I don't know if it can be considered that." Ami stated quietly.  
  
"What?!"  
  
"All she did was brush her finger tip across my body, she never even touched me...there. She seemed more interested in barely touching me as she kissed me."   
  
"No matter what she did, it was still rape!"  
  
Ami shuddered again and buried her head in Usagi's shoulder. It was at this point that Luna noticed the smell emanating from Ami and padded a little closer to confirm what her nose was telling her. Luna coughed a couple of times and kept her mouth shut since she was no longer as worried about Mercury as she was other things. Then Luna noticed that the smell was getting stronger the longer Mercury was in being held in Usagi's arms.  
  
"There's more isn't there Ami?" Luna asked.  
  
"H-hai..." Ami whispered.  
  
"There's more!?" Usagi all but yelled.  
  
Ami shuddered again and backed off from Usagi and glanced down at Luna and let out a longing sigh that confirmed Luna's thoughts. She fiddled with the hem of her dress and tried to calm herself, it was obvious to Luna what was going on, but Usagi missed it completely. "T-the thing is t-that I enjoyed what she did to me, a lot, and I can't get it out of my h-head." Ami admitted and hung her head and turning so red that Luna thought she might faint.  
  
Usagi gaped at the friend for several seconds before she started to smile and her grin wasn't the kind one gives a friend, but one of those almost evil ones that said a person was thinking some pretty perverted thoughts. Usagi giggled a little and sprouted horns and a little devil tail as she sidled up to Ami. Luna hung her head and wondered what she was up too.  
  
"You enjoyed it?"  
  
"Hai."  
  
"Then why are you here? You should be looking for her and returning the favor..." Usagi said in a stage whisper. Luna's fur sprang up at the advice, shocking her completely. Then she facefaulted off the end of the bed.  
  
"I tried to, really I did, spent most of an hour running all over the area looking for her, but she had simply vanished. Plus she wants to meet with you sometime." Ami said quietly.  
  
"I don't swing that way Ami." Usagi said with a grin. Luna took another header off the bed, since when had the walking disaster area learned how to be witty?  
  
Amy just smiled and reached into her pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to Usagi. The same note that Amy had left taped to her nose.  
  
Taking the note, Usagi and Luna scanned through it:  
  
Scouts:  
  
It took a while but I decided that I wasn't going return the favor of attempting to kill you from behind, as you did me. Instead I well be visiting each of you separately and having a little fun with you. I may scare you, I may play with you, or I may make you regret ever meeting me. This last is reserved for Sailors Jupiter and Mars because of their insistence that I would kill all of you if I lived. Bullshit!  
  
Amy Lee  
  
"She is going to be visiting us separately? What can we do if she decides to do to us what she did to Ami?" Usagi asked Luna.  
  
"Go with the flow?" Ami said quietly and turned bright red as she realized that she had said that out loud.  
  
"Ami!"  
  
"Heh, sorry, it just slipped out. Whatever she did to me is still hitting me a little bit. According to my computer scans, my body released a large amount of Endorphins into my system and it will take several days for them to go back down to normal levels. Until they do I will be...um...very receptive to certain things." Ami said uncomfortably.  
  
"So you can still feel what she did to you?"  
  
"Yes..." Ami answered as Usagi leaned in close and looked at her with those giant innocent eyes. This made Ami start to sweat as her body started to respond to the lust that was driving her mad, only her strength of will was keeping her from jumping her friend right there and then.  
  
"Usagi cut it out!" Luna said.  
  
"Don't be mean Luna, I'm just trying to have some fun." Usagi pouted.  
  
"Ah...right." Ami let out with a gasp and tried to slow her beating heart.  
  
"Ami, lets call it a night, you seem to have calmed down and I really need my sleep." Usagi pointed out suddenly when she sensed that her friend needed some time to calm down now that she had talked things out and delivered the message.  
  
"Of course Usagi, I really should be heading home myself." Ami said as she stood on wobbly knees. Usagi stood as well and led her down stairs and let her out the front door. Usagi waved good bye and quickly dashed back up stairs.  
  
After that Usagi headed back up to her room, but not before she made a slight detour via that kitchen to grab a banana off the counter. As she stepped into the room Usagi noticed a slightly familiar odor that she tried to place. She had smelled it somewhere before and after racking her brain she gasped and covered her nose. She shivered slightly as she finally recognized it. She hopped over the bed and opened the door to her balcony to let some fresh air in while hoping that the room would air out by morning.  
  
"Luna if she enjoyed what this Amy Lee did to her, why was she acting the way she was when she came in?"  
  
"Shock."  
  
"Shock, why, she said it was a lot of fun and that she was still feeling whatever it was that Amy did to her."  
  
"Shock can take many forms Usagi. This Amy Lee person stripped Ami of her control and used it against her to do whatever it was she did. People react differently to certain kinds of actions, some good some bad, it just depends on the person. Ami wouldn't have been chosen to be a Sailor Scout if she wasn't strong enough to survive what this Amy Lee did. So don't worry, she'll pull through."  
  
"...Okay..."  
  
"Don't think about it to hard, Ami will survive this, but right now we need to set things up tomorrow to have a scout meeting and inform everyone about this."  
  
"Do we tell the Outers?"  
  
Luna looked up in surprise. Usagi rarely asked such good questions. "I think we should, even though we haven't heard from them in some time."  
  
Usagi walked over to the open door and watched moon as she thought about what was going on. Or that is what Luna thought. She made it a point to never find out what was going through Usagi's mind. The last time she had tried to understand her charge had ended in a lot of pain. With a shrug Usagi hopped into bed and wrapped the sheets around her and got comfortable, shrugged and was instantly asleep while Luna grumbled about meatball headed teenagers, claws, and silk bras.  
  
**********  
  
Following Sailor Mercury had been child's play for Amy as she sat on the roof of Usagi's house and grinned evilly. She already had several plans in mind for her 'revenge' on the Scouts. She had one of them converted already, so if she ever wanted to make the others belong to her completely she wouldn't have to try to hard. But that went against what Amy wanted to do to them. So she decided that she would just visit each of them separately and see how things went from there, and if they did attack her again she would have something to hold over them.   
  
Amy was even more surprised to remember that Mercury had a name similar to hers, the only difference was in how they were pronounced. The instant she had heard it she'd had to make an attempt to not bang her head against the roof as she suddenly remembered the names of her favorite Anime from her own world. It had been far to long since she had watched anything on it.  
  
"Amy, what are you doing?" Asked Midory.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You are supposed to be causing as little harm as you can until we can find a way home."  
  
"You haven't noticed?"  
  
"What is that?"  
  
"There was a major temporal shift the instant I crossed over and it has been growing ever since."  
  
"Then you should be doing even less to this world than you already are..."  
  
"No, I will not sit back and do nothing as a world is shredded to pieces because of me. I'm having a little fun and making sure my presence is more beneficial than harmful. And if this world is destroyed, I want to go out with a bang and in battle or in bed with a petty girl."  
  
"Come on Amy, you know better than to do that." Said Aho.  
  
"Come on you two, where is your sense of adventure?"  
  
"You know as well as I that if we stay here too long or if we will cause to much change..."  
  
"Midory, we have already caused to much change, can't you feel the difference? It happened long before we woke up in that crater, something from one of the core worlds is here and has been making changes for a long time now. I have feeling that this world would have been getting a visit from me eventually anyway, I'm just having a little fun while I'm here."  
  
"That may be Amy, but it hasn't happened yet so you should keep a low profile while your here or until you are called."  
  
"Your also forgetting the 'Universal Law of Sacrifice', that also has some say in this world's future."  
  
Amy winced and nodded.  
  
*********  
  
Her eyes were open, she knew that because she could see the Time Door standing there above her. Then there was the pain, it was a word she seemed to have underestimated. Every square inch of her body hurt, hurt beyond their worst tortures she had ever experienced. Even her hair hurt as she lay there and whimpered in pain, just to move her arm made her come close to fainting as she forced herself to sit up. When that proved to painful she just lay there for several seconds gasping for air, she could sense that something was seriously wrong, but needed to be on her feet to use the Key to find out what it was.  
  
Setsuna moaned and rolled over onto her back with stifled scream of pain, tears ran down her face and into her hair as she lay there and gritted her teeth. She could feel the change in the very air around her too, she was no longer in her Sailor Scout uniform, and she was human again for some reason. She had never had this happen before, being a Scout seemed to always be enough to allow her to whether a change like this. Whatever had happened was possibly the worst thing in history, she couldn't make the changes she needed to anymore and that meant that Crystal Tokyo would soon be gone. Small Lady would be dead, perhaps never born, or something worse. She sobbed for hours and tried to come up with some idea of what to do, but nothing came to her except the pain whenever she tried to move.   
  
She thought about it for some time trying to figure out what had happened to her and eventually decided that her body was just slightly out of phase with the time gate's influence. This had the effect of doing something as simple as moving around nearly impossible. The closest she could come to describing it would be to have every cell in her body rubbing up against a serrated knife and slowly shredding her as she struggled to stay in one piece. Setsuna glanced at the Time Gate and saw that it had shut itself and erected a magical barrier to keep people away since she was not there to guard it like she should have been.  
  
"Ah SHIT!!!" She yelled. "Owwwweeee!"  
  
In the distance there was a flash of dark energy and slight rumbling sound as a teleport gate forced its way into the domain of the Time Gate. A vile of black liquid appeared and fell to the ground where it broke open, spilling its contents all over the foggy ground. For several minutes it lay there sparkling in the ethereal light of the plain, then it shifted and began to move, or ooze its way toward the green haired woman groaning in pain several meters away. It was silent as it moved and it used its powers to mask it's presence from unwanted eyes...  
  
*********  
  
In the back yard of the Tendo Dojo Nibiki watched as Amy methodically danced her way through a kata she was designing from scratch. According to her, it would allow her to use her opponents Ki attacks against them, even recharge her own if she found herself low on Ki for some reason. Nibiki was a bit amazed at their new house guest, she was an enigma that she just couldn't understand and that always meant trouble. In a lot of ways she was like Ranma, an almost natural at martial arts and preferred to fight her way out of things, and yet on the other had she wasn't chasing the boy around the yard like Shampoo or Ukyo did all the time.  
  
Her indifference to Ranma was having the opposite effect that she had wanted as well, even Nabiki could see that. She considered selling the information to the other girls, but decided to find a more profitable way to use this situation. It would take some thought but she figured she could come up with something to use. Ever since she had shown up, she had been warping the lives of all those around her. Ranma and Akane were a prime example of this, they had not fought in several days now and had been all but avoiding each other. Nabiki knew that they had canceled the engagement, but even that had not stopped the fighting between the two.   
  
The only problem was that Ranma had been fighting with Amy every evening for the last few days and the only person that seemed to have even noticed was Nibiki. The fathers hadn't even noticed and they always took the time to try and force Ranma on Akane while trying to get the other girls to leave. She wasn't sure what was going on, but she had her suspicions and they were not good ones, could the two morons be using this to hatch some weird plan or something?  
  
"Supper!" Kasumi called out.  
  
Ranma bounced off the roof, who had been watching Amy as she practiced, dashed forward, grabbed Amy's hand and pulled her to the table just as Akane was coming down stairs. Amy, again attempting to give Ranma a better chance with Akane, yanked her hand back and glared at the boy. "Ranma, go and talk to Akane again, one of these days you won't put your foot in your mouth and make her angry." Amy whispered in his ear.  
  
He nodded just as Akane mallet him off the property, over Nerima, and into orbit via Akane Air. Amy sighed and gave Akane this look that promised lots of pain if she continued to do things like this. Akane ignored her and glared daggers into Amy's back as she left to help Ranma when he landed.   
  
"That was a bit harsh Akane." Nabiki said.  
  
"The pervert deserved it!"  
  
"What did he do?" Nabiki asked.  
  
"He was trying to seduce yet ANOTHER girl into his harem!!"  
  
Nabiki just shook her head and wondered again if there was something seriously wrong with her sister. She thought about mentioning something about the canceled engagement, but decided against it. It would only make the father's go crazy and there was no profit in that unless someone paid her to do it. "You need to learn to see the truth for what it is Akane."  
  
"Just what is that supposed to meant?!"  
  
"That you just launched Ranma out of the city because he was called into dinner." Nabiki said and walked over to the table.  
  
Akane just glared at her. "Humph!"  
  
**********  
  
As soon as she was out of sight and several houses away, Amy flared her aura and lifted off the ground, she hovered there for several seconds before flying forward at incredible speeds. It wasn't long she spotted Ranma laying in the middle of the park, a geyser of water firing up into the sky from where he had landed. She was a little concerned that he wasn't moving, and landed to take a closer look. She ignored the amazed looks she was getting from those few people in the park that had witnessed her flying in, it wasn't all that important, Ranma was because he was her friend. He was at the bottom of a rapidly filling crater, turned female because of the water and in pretty bad shape.  
  
Amy waded through the water and knelt down to roll Ranma over and get a better look at her friend's injuries. She noted the large bruise forming on the along her face and shoulders and across her chest. Ranma groaned and opened her eyes and almost choked at the expression of concern on Amy's face. The only person to ever show him any compassion or friendship had been Akane. He had latched onto her like a life preserver in the flow and ebb of his chaotic life, until he had grown tired of being hit all the time by her and called things off.  
  
"Are you all right?" Amy asked.  
  
"Yeah, I barely felt that." Ranma said cockily and winced.  
  
"Oh sure my friend, that is why this giant bruise is forming all over you." Amy snapped back, trying and failing to keep from giggling.  
  
"Heh, I guess Akane did go a little over board this time. Just how far did I make it?"  
  
"Almost three miles."  
  
Ranma was impressed, Akane's average hit usually sent him about half a mile or so. The only time she ever sent him further was when she was very mad at him. He groaned and wondered what he had done this time. It was always so hard to tell anymore. She just seemed to jump to some strange conclusion and then ...HAMMER TIME!  
  
Helping Ranma to her feet, Amy steadied her as she wobbled a little before catching her balance. "Do you want to go home?"  
  
"Not right now, whatever I did, Akane won't even tolerate me for several hours at least." Ranma said sadly.  
  
"Hmmm...how about we go to Uchan's then?"  
  
"Hey, great idea, I haven't had any of her stuff in weeks. Every time I even think of going there Akane mallet's me unconscious."  
  
"Well," Amy smiles, "this time it's my idea."  
  
Ranma is more than willing and they are soon roof hopping across Nerima. Because of how far Akane had hit Ranma it takes more than an hour to get there and walk inside, Ranma instantly notices that the place is busier then normal. The girl behind the grill is working like crazy as they enter and looks up with a smile as she sees him, but frowns when she sees Amy right behind him. Ranma doesn't notice though and takes up a seat at the front counter while he says hi to his other friend.  
  
"Hi Ran-chan, I'll get you something as soon as I can."  
  
"Take your time U-chan, 3 specials for me and the same for Amy here." Ranma says.  
  
Amy looks the place over and decides that she likes it, though it is a little hard to tell when all available seats are taken up by the cheerleading team from Juban High, as the bus proclaims outside. She notices something as she looks all the girls over and smirks. Amy, feeling playful, taps Ranma on the shoulder and points to one of the girls sitting in one of the booths along the wall.  
  
She was sitting in just such a way to allow anyone who wants to can see her panties and she didn't seem to notice. She whispers this to Ranma and points it out. She looks and instantly turns red when she gets an eye full of a blue silk panty. Amy giggles as Ranma starts to look around for the incoming mallet. Ukyo scowls and looks over at what had caused Ranma to react that way and pales for a second then blushes along with Ranma.   
  
A few minutes later Ukyo brings their orders up and they stand at the counter chatting as they eat, talking about what they were planning to do over the next few days. Amy notices a small TV hanging in one corner with the news playing. Amy watches for a few seconds and realizes that they are playing a story on the Sailor Scouts, but the story finishes before she can figure out what is going on.  
  
"You ever have any dealings with them yet?" Amy asks casually.  
  
"Who?" Ranma turns around and looks at the TV. "The Sailors?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Not yet, I don't get over to Juban very much, why."  
  
"They tried to kill me the other night when I went to the bank." Amy says conversationally.  
  
Ranma blinked, "Did you try to rob it?."  
  
Amy swats the back of Ranma's head. "Hey now, there was no need for that. I told them I would get revenge on them for trying to kill me in cold blood. They claimed that I was already trying to kill them even after I had saved on of them from being killed."  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
Amy grinned evilly, "Embarrass the hell out of them."  
  
*********  
  
Ami had a weird look on her face as she unlocked the apartment she shared with her mother, stepped inside, and headed into the kitchen. Her look was a little hard to describe since it was a look that she had never worn before. She was totally confused about what happened with that girl who had attacked her earlier, her feelings and desires were doing loops and twists around her logical mind and winning.   
  
For this reason her mighty logic, that always helped her analyze situations like this was not working, instead she felt like she was flying through the clouds. Her body was thrumming with energy that she had never felt before and she never wanted it to end. What had been done to her?   
  
Even though it had been about six hours sense Amy Lee had brought her to a mind blowing orgasm by touch alone, she had been thinking constantly of her sexual orientation. She had always considered herself completely heterosexual and only slightly curious about the other sex, in a perfectly healthy way, but what that girl had done something, and it had blown her mental circuits into tiny pieces. She stepped into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water and tried to distract herself from the images and feelings that were driving her crazy.   
  
No matter how hard she tried she just could not get what happened to her out of her mind and just thinking about it was arousing her to levels she had never felt in her life. If that wasn't bad enough it was causing her to soil her panties at an alarming rate. She had already soaked through several pairs of panties in the last two hours.   
  
The worst was the run from Nerima to Juban where she was in her Scout uniform. It was not designed to keep her arousal a secret. Ami blushed as she finished off the water. No they weren't designed for that. Her thighs had been literally drenched from things leaking out and there hadn't been a thing she could do about it. Transforming back had been a mistake too because she instantly had to change her panties, that pair had lasted all of ten minutes after she left Usagi's place.  
  
Usagi had been so tired when she visited that she hadn't noticed a thing when Ami managed to grab a couple pairs of panties out of her drawer. Even Luna had missed that little bit of midnight robbery. Thoughts of what had happened to her plagued Ami on her to our track through the park as she headed home. It didn't help anything when she found that she was staying in a constantly aroused state, her body just wouldn't calm down enough to let her relax.   
  
Standing in the living room Ami didn't even consider witnesses as she pulled off yet another soaked pair of panties and grabbed another pair from her subspace pocket. These went on is easily as any the others and she wandered around the apartment in a daze, her fingers lightly trailing across her lips as she recalled when Amy had kissed her, she shuddered and moaned softly at the effect.  
  
Releasing a great sigh Ami flopped down into a nearby chair and brought her knees to her chest and tried to find a logical solution for this mess. There was nothing she could do though, her feelings would not let her focus past her hyper arousal enough to properly think this though. Her entire body was still pulsing with need, it was taking all she had not to strip right there and do something about it though. That girl had did this to her somehow, but she was just to out of it to think about how it was done. Leaning back, Ami curled up in the chair and slowly drifted off to sleep as her body pulsed in time with her heart.  
  
Outside Amy hovered in the air outside the girl's apartment and blended in with the shadows so that no one would see her. Amy raised her arm and fired a thin beam of Ki into the girl's back, almost immediately she relaxed and went into a deeper sleep than what she had been in. Amy had gotten enough revenge on Mercury, besides she wasn't the Scout she wanted to punish the most.   
  
Mercury was just a delightful side dish that she had snatched up for a little fun. If the girl did try to do something though, it wouldn't take much for her to activate the shiatsu points again. With that Amy flew into the sky and vanished before anyone could figure out where the red light was coming from.  
  
It was a few hours later when Ami slowly awakened and opened her eyes to see her mother moving around the kitchen making them breakfast. She sat up and stretched to get the kinks out of her muscles from sleeping in that strange position. It had been nearly four days since she had seen her mother and Ami brightened up almost immediately.   
  
She also noticed that her body was not as affected as it had been a few hours before. Though she could still feel herself pulsing in time to her heart it was not as powerful as it was. This made her morning as she stood up and finished working the kinks out of her system.  
  
"Good morning." Ami's mother said from the kitchen as she saw her daughter moving around. "You must have had quite a night last night?"  
  
"Huh?" Ami said intelligently.  
  
Ami's mom comes though the kitchen smiling and points at the floor at the edge of the couch and her grins get bigger. Ami looks down and focuses her eyes on no less than four pair of soaked panties that she had accidentally dropped on the floor in her exhaustion earlier. She gasped and turned several shades of red as her blush covered her face and headed down her chest. "Um...well...um..."  
  
"I would be very interested in hearing what could cause you to have that kind of reaction on you of all people?" Her mother said lecherously grinning at her only daughter.  
  
"I...I...I...d-don't..."Ami said as she descended into total embarrassment. Her mother was a doctor and knew very well how human body worked and concocting lies was nearly impossible when he came to fooling her mother about her reactions.  
  
"Was it a really, really cute boy?"  
  
"I know, a really handsome movie character?"  
  
"Perhaps a dirty movie?"  
  
"One of your friends, hint, hint."  
  
Ami stepped back from her mother, still blushing furiously and trying to come up with a plausible excuse for several pairs of damp and smelly panties on the floor. Her mother giggled at her and gave her a little push to get her to walk into the kitchen and take a seat at the table. What was worse, was that she was actually considering telling her mother the truth about what happened except for the fact that she had been a Sailor Scout at the time.  
  
"So tell me what happened?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Don't be shy either, I expect my daughter to the very open about such things and anything they could set you off that strongly is worth hearing about if you ask me."  
  
"Are you sure you want to know?"  
  
"Definitely."  
  
For a 15-year-old girl to have to sit down and tell her mother that a girl had turned you on more than any man ever could was very, very hard. Ami wasn't sure how to begin because her explanation had to be half truth and half lie, just enough to be believable without giving away her other secrets. So she fidgeted nervously, looking down at her hands as they started to sweat as she tried to get her thought in order.  
  
"Tell me what he looked like."  
  
"...it was a girl." Ami said very quietly, blushing to the root server hair.  
  
"Oh really? Tell me about this girl and what she did that that could affect you so much."  
  
"I actually don't know how she did it, only that all she had to do was touch me and I went off into lala land. I don't understand why it happened either." And so it went for the next 20 or 30 minutes as they ate breakfast, Ami became more and more embarrassed by what had happened to her, she had to start and stop several times as she detailed the night.   
  
Her mother did not once insult her or condemn her for allowing another girl to sexually excite her. Instead she just sat there nodding and listened to her and offered some advise and interesting comments. Ami finished her explanation by pointing at the damp panties and explaining that she had borrowed several pair from her friend to keep from dripping down her own legs.  
  
"You never said, but exactly how far did you get with this girl?"  
  
"That's the strange part, all she did was step in close to me, run her finger along my body and while her other hand was cupping my face, and then she kissed me. Her other hand then roamed around my body and I went off like a firecracker and passed out on the spot from the sheer intensity of it." Ami, though still embarrassed, no longer had any fear of what her mother's reaction would be since she actually seemed to be encouraging her to talk about it more.  
  
"Are you going to see this girl again?"  
  
"Yes, but I don't know if anything will ever happen between us. I still need to find out why she did it in the first place." Ami said.  
  
"Well if you do decide to go out with this girl just remember to enjoy yourself as you do so, there is certainly no need to be a so embarrassed about it." Ami's mother said as she stood up and began to gather up her coat and purse. "Thank you for the chat Ami, we haven't had one like it in a long time and I'm glad you decided to confide in me." With that her mother turned around, waved goodbye, and headed out for another 18 hour shift at the hospital.  
  
Ami blinked as the door closed and shrugged, that was her mother alright. Here one minute and as peasant as anything, the next she was going to work and would disappear for days on end. That was about the norm for these things and Ami didn't expect to see her again anytime soon. That left her with only one thing to do...study!  
  
She cleaned up the dishes and went to her room to read.  
  
*********  
  
It had been a week since Amy started to plan her revenge against the Scouts and she had recruited Ranma to help her out when it was needed. So far they hadn't done anything to them yet, but that was going to change today. Ranma and Amy had just decided that it would be a good idea if they were to head out and do a little recon of Juban while they had a few hours to kill. Amy needed to see if the information she had on the Scouts was still up to date even after all this time.   
  
She had been on enough crossover worlds to know that not everything stayed the same from world to world. The biggest thing she wanted to know is what part of the known time line they were in. A bit of thought told Amy that they were around the last season, either before or after it to be exact.   
  
She used the names the girls used for their attacks to figure this out, though Ranma didn't know about any of it. He had barely ever heard of the Sailor Scouts and he lived here. That meant that the Scouts were also still part of the rumor mill instead of out in the open. Ranma was a bit skeptical as he followed her, she had taken a few minutes to explain what she planned to do to the Scouts in retaliation for attacking her.   
  
Ranma was a little nervous at first since he had never considered embarrassment a form of revenge, but he quickly got into the novelty of Amy's idea and wondered how it would work. They roof hopped into the heart of Juban and they were soon moving into the areas most recognized for having sightings of the Sailor Scouts, according to the guide book Amy had come across earlier. It was amazing what urban legend could spawn when it came to money and tourist attractions.  
  
"Can I help you in any way? I still think your idea is a little extreme, but if you want to go though with it I'll help you."  
  
"Are you sure you want to help me, Ranma?"  
  
"Yeah." Ranma said as they stood on the roof of a 4 story school building at the edge of the Juban district, it was just tall enough to let the keep an eye on the entire area. Amy nodded and pointed to a school in the distance.  
  
"That building is the Juban High School and is where some of the Scouts go to school in their civilian identities. They are like any other group of girls you've ever met, flighty, colorful, and boy crazy to extremes. They also turn into Sailor Scouts and kill monsters in their spare time."  
  
"They don't sound all that tuff, they are just girls after all and if their like everyone else..." Ranma said.  
  
"Their powers give them increased speed, strength, and enough power to blow up buildings just like the one we're on now. They are anything but weak Ranma, and I doubt that you could blow up a building, even with your Ki attacks.  
  
Ranma shrugged, he knew he could do it, he had just never tired to and he never told her about Saffron and the blast that leveled an entire mountain. "What exactly are you planning for today?"  
  
"Like I said, I am going to play several hentai jokes on them and embarrass the hell out of them or make them faint from pleasure. Since I have already gotten Mercury, I am planning to strike at either Jupiter or Venus next. Jupiter happens to go to this school, Venus goes to the just down the block."   
  
"What about the others?"  
  
"Moon, Jupiter, and Mercury go to that one a couple of streets over. Venus, goes to the one were standing on right now, and Mars goes to a private girl's school a couple miles away."  
  
Ranma nodded and grinned, he liked this kind of revenge. It was better than what he was used to from Ryoga and Kuno at least, though he had no intention of ever doing against either of them unless he wanted to become a true pervert. This was going to be fun, Amy had already sketched out a couple of plans that had even had Akane edging away from her and mumbling about perverts.   
  
Her hand had been trying to find an excuse to pull the mallet and pound Amy into the floor. Only the fact that Amy had been training her for some time now stopped her. When Amy saw how Akane was acting she smiled and reached into her coat to pull out a card and handed it to Akane with a leer.   
  
The youngest Tendo hadn't taken good at all and started screaming about how Amy was giving girls a bad name with her perverted ideals. Her reaction had been one of the funniest things Ranma had seen in a long time, he had fallen over laughing at the look on her face.   
  
This got him another hot trip to the pond by way of Akane's mallet as she was finally able to find a suitable target for her growing rage. Ranma had dragged himself out of the koi pond just as Akane stomped out of the room, he had picked up the card and read it and started laughing again.   
  
"Pervert's Anonymous--20 minutes and counting without an impure thought...Oooh!" It was surrounded in little gold and red hearts and symbols to catch the eye of anyone that read the card.  
  
Akane had been avoiding Amy ever since, even going to the point that she stopped training with her and called her names behind her back. Amy hadn't meant to a cause the reaction, it had just been a joke after all, but Akane hadn't taken it that way and was trying to get Amy thrown out of the house.   
  
Even going so far as to try and pay Nabiki to refuse Amy the next time she wanted to pay the rent for another week. Nibiki was baffled about this since Amy's money was netting them quite a bit of capital, they'd even had enought o finally install some equipment the Dojo had needed for years now. Selling Amy's location to Akane for 1000 yen a shot was also making her some quick money.   
  
To make up for the extreme reaction Amy had slotted Kasumi into Akane's training time instead, since the girl needed a decent sparing partner, much to Kasumi's delight and ...pain. It was unusual for the oldest Tendo to sport bruises, but Kasumi had taken a shine to Amy and they were now training with each other on a daily. Soun had noticed the bruises, declared loudly that he would kill whoever had hurt his little girl and broke down into tears, again. He had no idea it was Amy or what she was doing since Kasumi didn't want anyone to know about it just yet.   
  
Amy still hadn't experience his demon head attack, but she felt it was only a matter of time before something happened. She wanted to learn the technique and to do that she needed to see it in action. Though Ranma had noticed Kasumi training with Amy, he had wisely decided to keep his mouth shut, after a little seductive threat on Amy's part. Threatening to kiss him got the most curious results at the best of times, and he was fun to tease.  
  
Then there was the equipment that Amy had picked up a few days ago, he had never thought of some of the stuff she had picked up or had made for her. The day after their visit to U-chan's, Amy and Ranma had gone over to the Mall in Juban where she had some stuff available for pick up, a number of special orders.   
  
The two jackets were works of art and the armored inner linings even more so. Ranma had made a couple of comments about her odd tastes in clothing, but that had changed as he began to see what they were use for. Unfortunately Amy had been a bad mood due to something Akane had said to her that morning and took it out on Ranma for opening his mouth at the wrong time. So she had reached out and tapped a shiatsu point in his chest.  
  
He had collapsed to the floor in astonishment as his body went numb and refused to support him anymore. "Wha...What the hell did you do?!"  
  
"That was pretty easy Ranma, I mean aren't you supposed to be a great martial artist?"  
  
"What did you do?!"  
  
"Shiatsu point, it numbs the muscles of your body for several minutes and leaves you open to an attack. Now that I've demonstrated that, here is the reason why I had this coat made up Mr. Arrogance. My coat's serve 3 functions Ranma...  
  
1: It is a kind of armor and can withstand a great deal of damage  
  
2: It is for strength training because it weighs quite a bit  
  
3: and finally it is for making me look good in a fight."  
  
Amy's jackets were made of a thick silk and decorated with pictures of a flaming dragon while edged in golden flames, the thing was a bit showy, but she liked them that way to draw attention to her and not what she was doing. The linings were made out of Kevlar and had hundreds of little pockets stitched into the outer lining. Ranma had watched with a weird expression on his face, while still not being able to move, as Amy took the lining and laid it out on the floor of the store and pulled a large bag of lead from her subspace pocket and sat down to insert the lead weights into the pockets.  
  
"Weighted clothing?" He croaked out.  
  
"Yeah, I usually wear a pair of boots with hundred pounds weights in them, a 50 pound belt, this 200 pound jacket, and if I'm really in the mood to train I have a pair of shoulder braces that I can get up to 500 pounds or more."  
  
"How can you stand with all that?"  
  
"I've worked my way up to it over the years and my body is really adaptable to high stress situations."  
  
Amy stood up and casually drew on the now 200 pound coat and buttoned it up the side with the little red gold buttons. The rest of the weights and the extra coat went into her subspace pocket right in front of an astonished sales clerk's face that had no idea what Amy wanted the funny clothing for. Amy had wiggled a little to settle the weight and grinned down at Ranma, it had been a few weeks since she had worn one of these and she had been losing her edge.  
  
Feeling Ranma had learned his lesson she knelt down, smirked at him and jabbed him in the stomach. His body twitched once and the feeling returned all at once. It was a little painful, but he did keep his insults down to a minimum for the rest of the day. This just happened to be what Amy wanted in the first place.   
  
"You do know that is a handicap don't you? You won't be able to fight as well as you usually do." Ranma pointed out.  
  
"Yep, my full speed should be slowed by about half and my punches should be hard enough to knock a normal fighter off their feet without even trying." Amy said, quickly adjusting to her new clothing. It wasn't her usual armor, but she had learned to improvise over the years. They were able to make better forms of training clothing where she came from, this primitive stuff just wasn't as durable as what she was used to.  
  
They had spent the next couple of hours wandering the mall picking up odds and ends that Amy thought might come in handy against the Sailors. The porn shop had been an eye opener for Ranma and he had fled before they passed the first stack of tapes. From there Amy had dragged him to some other places, just for fun she had dragged Ranma into a dress shop, after tossing a glass of water at him, and played dress up for a half hour or so.   
  
She had protested at first, but a quick challenge had made her put her all into it. She had managed surprise Amy with just how much knowledge Ranma really did have when it came to this stuff. Amy had a ball watching Ranma strut around in a black cocktail dress and no bra, the little wiggle had been worth the wait in Amy's book.  
  
Amy hadn't known noticed it, but Ranma had been watching her as well. He was just amazed that anyone could like him, especially with his curse, and yet she seemed to like him either way and that made him feel special in a way the tomboy didn't. Akane's temper had been getting on his nerves lately, but he had no idea how to deal with her, and they had technically broken up eve if they were still trying a little. He just couldn't bring himself to deal with her the way Amy had the other day when she had punched the girl unconscious for hitting him with the mallet.   
  
Even when he was mad at her over hurting Akane she had insisted that she had done the right thing, the fight had turned into a pretty good sparing session somewhere along the way and he never had gotten a chance to protect Akane's honor. Amy was also able to hold her own against him in their sparing matches and that had impressed him more than a little, he was used to girls trying to do anything to get close to him. Amy didn't work that way, she was her own person and worked the way she wanted to. Now he was getting to get to know her fun side and actually enjoying himself, as a girl.  
  
Ranma had lost himself in the roll of having fun and didn't even seem to care that he was girl anymore. Even eating at the food court around all the people wasn't bothering him very much. They were eating ice cream and giggling like any pair of school girl when his behavior had hit him squarely in the stomach. He had paled and turned a disgusted look at himself and fled to the nearest bathroom and turned himself male as quickly as he could. Amy had caught him as he came out of the men's bathroom, gave him a sad look that made him feel bad, and handed him his drink.  
  
"Lets head back to the dojo Ranma." Amy said as they started to leave the mall.  
  
"Amy, I-I'm sorry..."  
  
"Ranma, you are your own worst enemy, did you know that?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Your curse isn't that bad, it really isn't."  
  
"I hate my curse."  
  
"I don't think so Ranma, you have adjusted to it very well. You know how to walk correctly. You can put on the most vapid impression of an air headedness I have ever seen..." Amy said with a giggle and tried to copy him from a few minutes before when they had been getting ice cream.  
  
"But Amy..."  
  
"Ranma, I like you, male or female, you are a good friend in either sex and able to handle any kind of combat situation better than most anyone I have ever met. So long as you act like yourself you can open up and have fun like any teenager, but then your giant Ego rears it's head and you revert back to the flawed upbringing your father instilled in you."  
  
"...You needn't go quite that far..."  
  
"Ranma, have you ever considered why a lot of the girls you meet up with, fall for you?"  
  
"Where did that come from?"  
  
"Have you?"  
  
"Yeah...and I can't figure it out either..."  
  
"By making you do nothing but train in Martial arts for the last 10 years, you never had time to interact with others. Your one of the most stubborn people I have ever met, that reaction back there is a prime example of what I mean."  
  
"Hey, I'm not that bad..."  
  
"You attract girls because you are so very naive Ranma that makes girls flock to you, you don't hit on every girl you meet, you respect their wishes and try to help them whenever you can. Girls like that, it also helps that you're are quite cute, innocent, and allot of fun to be around. You do what you want and don't worry what others will say, that makes you something special. As a girl you are even more so, too."  
  
"What?! You expect me to enjoy being a girl!" Ranma gripped. "You...you...unsexy tomboy!"  
  
"Oh please Ranma, you were having as much fun as me and you can't deny it. You never even hesitated or flinched when I told you that you were beautiful in one dress or another and you were free with your compliments as well."  
  
"Um..." Ranma paled...not liking where this was going.  
  
"Ranma, your dislike of switching sex is a habit that you developed to make others see you in a certain way. I don't buy it for a moment. Humph!" With that Amy dumped her soft drink over Ranma's head and ran off giggling. Of course he, now she, had gasped and run off after her as she made her way out of the mall, across the parking lot, and took to the roofs.   
  
They ran all they way back to the dojo and Amy had Ranma laughing again by the time they arrived. He had a new respect for his friend because he had remembered something during the little run after about 2 miles into the run, and that she was sporting that super heavy coat and...OUT RUNNING him as they hopped from roof to roof!   
  
He had also been running over their conversation in the back of his mind and wondered if Amy may have had a point. Why had he been avoiding his curse so much? Especially after having it for over two years now. Amy was just plain confusing to him, she was an enigma that just fascinated him, and she was strong, fast, intelligent, pretty...blush..."Uh oh..."   
  
Ranma tripped over the edge of a building and took a header right into someone's pool with a massive belly flop, scaring the girls who were sunbathing beside the pool and drenching them completely. Amy, upon hearing the giant splash, had angled back to check on him. Upon landing beside the pool, Ranma had surfaced and glared at her while gasping for air and treading water. Amy fell down laughing hysterically. The other girls had just gaped and soon joined Amy laughing at the water logged Ranma as she sputtered and climbed out of the pool.  
  
*********  
  
Makoto Kino was walking along, heading over to Rei's temple for a meeting, when she saw something out of the corner of her eye and looked up just in time to see two red haired girls jumping from roof to roof as they moved across the bounded away from the area. It was possibly the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her life, how anyone could jump and run like that was a complete mystery.   
  
Then she recognized the one in front, but the second girl was a mystery, she didn't have a clue who she was. Then she remembered the note Ami had mentioned at the meeting a few days ago and quickly pulled out her communicator and hit the 'all call' button.  
  
"Everyone, I just spotted Amy Lee and another girl roof hopping near my apartment building."  
  
"They were doing What!?" Rei screamed.  
  
"Were they doing anything else Mako?" Ami asked.  
  
"Not that I could see, I'm trying to catch up with them now." Makoto said as she ran after the two girls.  
  
"Be careful Makoto, Amy Lee has sworn to get revenge on us for that attack you and Rei pulled. We know she isn't going to kill us, but she will pull something on us if she catches us alone." Luna advised, it was her sole duty and she did it so well.  
  
"I still blame Rei for this mess, if she hadn't jumped the gun we could have new friend and ally right now instead of someone that wants to turn us into sex toys." Usagi said as she grabbed the communicator from Luna. Makoto blushed as the people around her head that and started talking and pointing at her.  
  
"Shut up MEATBALL HEAD, I still think she should be neutralized in some way."  
  
Makoto dashed into an alley to get away from all the people talking about her, glanced around. She transformed into Sailor Jupiter and quickly jumped to a nearby roof in an attempt to keep an eye on Amy Lee or the other girl as they moved away. They were no where in sight though and after a few minutes looking she had to give up for a moment. She brought her communicator out again and called everyone again. "I don't see them anymore, should I keep looking?"  
  
"Yes, we need to apologize to her!" Usagi said.  
  
"No! Stop her before she starts to kill us! My visions are telling me to be very careful with this one, she is dangerous." Rei yelled.  
  
"Rei, we have no proof of that!" Usagi yelled.  
  
"She threatened us!"  
  
"Jupiter had just blasted her in the back! She was mad at us, we need to get on her good side again."  
  
Bickering ensued.  
  
Sailor Jupiter turned off her communicator. She just didn't feel like going through that argument again, she was jumping to another roof even as she put it away. She had felt bad ever since she had thrown that shot, but she wasn't about to back down now. Unlike the others, she liked a good fight and looked forward to the various monsters that showed up every now and then and this Amy Lee was proving to be interesting. The others thought she was crazy for thinking that way, but she preferred the challenge to being bored in peaceful times.  
  
Then, Jupiter spotted them several roofs away looking out over the city talking to themselves, one of them looked like she had just fallen in the canal. She quickly plotted a jump pattern and moved into action. She wasn't in the right place during a jump and missed it when the shorter red head pointed in her direction. It took a few minutes, but she managed to make it to the building and land without a sound on the edge of the room behind them. Dashing to the edge of a small wall, she edged her way around and looked around carefully. What greeted her made her curse under her breath.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	6. Strange Days05 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com   
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 05  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Ranma and Amy were standing on top of a building looking over Juban when Ranma noticed something. "We have company coming." Ranma said and pointed out Sailor Jupiter as she was bouncing along the roof tops in the distance.  
  
Amy turned to look and grinned in anticipation, of all the girls to run into at this time, Jupiter was the one of the ones she wanted the most. She loved those costumes the scouts wore, they made spotting them so easy and they practically screamed out who was who.   
  
From where Amy was standing she could tell that Jupiter was a tall one alright, had a great pair of legs, and a strong athletic body that curved in all the right places. Shaking herself out of her perverted daydream, Amy took a quick inventory of her equipment and decided that she had enough to pay Jupiter back, or if things went weird.   
  
"Let's get her, I can't pass this up."  
  
Ranma nodded her head and wondered what Amy had in mind, they had several plans, but Amy didn't saw what she had in mind. "Are you going to do to her what you did to that Mercury girl you mentioned?" She asked and blushed, Amy didn't believe in holding back on her descriptions of writhing and moaning.  
  
"I was considering it, why, do you want to try something else?" Amy asked and grinned. Ranma was as stubborn as a stone, but she had finally managed to get him to think before he acted. Not often to be sure, but it was getting to be a little better, especially what she had done to him at the mall a little earlier.  
  
"Let's just defeat her?"  
  
"Naw, that's just boring...Hmmm..." Amy tracked Jupiter out of the corner of her eye as she tapped her chin in thought. "I have to embarrass all of them in one way or another. I promised them I would as a form of revenge so that I wouldn't have to kill them, I don't want to let them down either."  
  
"But..."  
  
"You don't like playing with like this do you?"  
  
"At first I thought it would be fun to do this, but as we get closer to actually doing it...no...it feels wrong to me." Ranma said, looking away from her friend.  
  
"They tied to kill me for no reason Ranma, I can't just forgive them for that, I goes against what I believe. There are only a certain number of ways I can repay that and embarrassment is one of those ways." Amy said as she focused on her danger sense and noted that Jupiter was circling behind them. A bit of a predictable plan, but pretty typical of her if Amy remembered anything about Makoto Kino.   
  
None of the scouts had ever received any formal combat training until very recently and even then it was focused on their powers and not on their bodies. It also helped that the Scouts were not yet at their full powers, if that had been the case Amy would have been taking them far more seriously that she was.  
  
"You could ignore it?"  
  
"No."  
  
"So what are you going to do?"  
  
"You head on home Ranma." Amy said.  
  
"I'll stay, I said I'd help and after all we are friends."  
  
"Ranma..."  
  
"I can handle this Amy, I don't have to many problems with it and I can understand what you're doing."  
  
"...Jupiter is absolutely boy crazy, to the point of fanaticism, so I was going to hit her 'Over the Top Point' and watch the fire works."  
  
Ranma turned a deep shade of red, he had heard of that from some of the people he had met while on the training trip.  
  
"You are still innocent in a lot of ways Ranma and you the better for it..."  
  
"I am not innocent!"  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
Ranma flinched and blushed again at the suggestive note in her friend's voice.  
  
Amy stepped forward and cupped Ranma's face in her hands and smiled at him. "You head on home and I'll take care of this. I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me..."  
  
"This is a matter of honor, I won't interfere in that, but I won't let you do this alone either. I'll be back up." She said stubbornly.  
  
"Ranma...you do understand what I am going to do to her?"  
  
Ranma blushed again, deeper this time and nodded.  
  
"Then watch from the shadows and don't interfere. I'm going to pick a fight with her and lead up to it. Jupiter is supposed to a well trained martial artist and I want to see what she has to offer."  
  
Ranma nodded her understanding and wondered what this was going to be like, she didn't consider herself that innocent, but what Amy was suggesting was making her curious as hell. They turned and jumped off the roof to the building next door when Jupiter wasn't able to watch them. Amy landed and turned to peek around a nearby wall to witness Jupiter's landing and her sneaky movements as she tried to come up on where they had just been without being heard.   
  
Amy could tell that Jupiter's stealth skills were non existent from where she was and adjusted her knowledge of the girl down a notch. She was still thinking of the Scouts she had once known that would have given the Dragon Ball crew a run for their money. This Jupiter was a pathetic example compared to that, but she did have some skill, Amy just hoped she knew enough to be a decent sparing partner.  
  
Amy glanced over at Ranma and saw that she was fidgeting nervously. Amy had a bad feeling about this, but decided to let Ranma make her own decisions. "You alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I just wish I could play too." Ranma said with a grin.  
  
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure Ryoga or Kuno will show up eventually. After all the day is only half over."  
  
"Hey!"  
  
"I'll let you play with the next one, okay?"  
  
"Sure, that'll work."  
  
Nodding, Amy calculated her plan of attack and waited for Jupiter to get into position. She was looking a little confused, probably wondering where her prey was and how they got away. Jupiter wasn't quick enough mentally, she was all fight and no brains in a situation like this and her caution was working against her. Stretching her hands out, Amy formed a ball of bright red Ki and focused on Sailor Jupiter's back when she turned around to check on something.   
  
She set it to pulsing brightly and waited for her target to notice it, Amy hated to attack from behind unless she had to. Jupiter spun to look right at Amy and her ball of light, Amy let it fly with a smirk that Jupiter could see. The small ball of Ki raced out and quickly expanded into a large fireball that screamed at her as it closed in.  
  
It slammed into the wall right beside Sailor Jupiter just as she rolled to the side and launched herself off the building in an effort to dodge. She also did this because she had no idea how big the blast would be. Amy watched as the girl dove off the building and took not of where she would land before hopping off the off the building she was on as well.   
  
Jupiter growled when she saw that the fire ball just flared for a few seconds before it evaporated harmlessly. She rolled over in mid air and landed on her feet at the base of the building, Jupiter didn't even take time to think as she launched herself at the descending Red head, she didn't want to end up like Ami did.  
  
"SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE!" Jupiter yelled out and fired. Jupiter spun in a circle like a dancer and launched dozens of lethal electrical like attacks at Amy. Amy was a bit surprised when Jupiter attacked her like she did, but figured that the girl's attack wouldn't be all that hard to deal with. She fired off a small Ki blast and detonated one of the attacks, or at least tried to, the energy of Jupiter's attack absorbed Amy's and grew in size.   
  
Amy gasped as she was caught off guard and started to dodge at amazing speed, blurring in and out of place until Jupiter stopped spinning and glared at her. After several seconds, Jupiter charged forward in a physical attack her fist leading the way with a scream. Amy ducked and went low and tried to sweep her feet, but Jupiter dodged the attack, so Amy rolled around into a crouch and punched her in the stomach.  
  
She gasped in pain just as she was flung back into the side of a building, shattering apart of the wall. Jupiter shook her head and slid out of the small indention she had made in the wall and glared at Amy, she had never been this angry before. A red haze of anger enveloped Jupiter as she looked over her hated foe and decided that Rei was correct after all, this monster needed to die. Jupiter screamed in rage, reached out and seemed to grab the very air as she threw her arm forward.  
  
"JUPITER THUNDER DRAGON!!"  
  
Sparks of electricity steamed out and formed into an attacking dragon! It rose up and seemed to roar to the heavens before spewing forth enough electricity to light up Japan for several years. Ranma watched from above them, she was very impressed that a girl could duplicate an attack that Hopposai had used on him once. He had never known that the Scouts had this much power at their disposal and was worried about Amy all of a sudden. How could she fight this kind of power...?  
  
Amy just smiled and stood there arrogantly as she waited for it to hit her. Ranma wasn't sure what to do, but her promise not to interfere kept her from jumping in to save Amy, no matter how much she wanted to help out. The blast hit and she watched as Amy simply vanished from sight, the resulting explosion took out most of the street and shattered every window for blocks around. A sonic boom was heard then and it echoed for miles, Ranma had to cover her ears because it was so loud.  
  
Jupiter's eyes widened in surprised shock as her attack caused more damage than it ever had before. There was destruction for hundreds of feet in every direction. She wondered if she had killed the girl with an attack like that, but Jupiter couldn't see any sign of her and there wasn't all that much standing that could be used for cover. The she caught a red blur out of the corner of her eye just Amy appeared and punched her in the jaw and sent her flying back into the building again. Rolling with the blow, Jupiter managed to lesson the impact damage and landed as best she could before she jumped back her enemy, the red film of hate taking her again.  
  
They started to move faster and faster, throwing punches and kicks faster than most people could follow. Jupiter's anger rose up to new heights. She was beginning to realize that the red head was far better than her. Amy delivered a stiff arm to Jupiter's jaw and sent her to the ground with a bloody lip and feral grin. Jupiter crawled back to her feet and reveled in the feeling of excitement that was infusing her.   
  
She hadn't ever been in a fight like this one in her life. She had always been the one that finished a fight, but now she there was the very real possibility of losing and it excited her to no end. Jupiter also understood that this fight wasn't going to last much longer if she didn't do something quickly.  
  
Amy looked at the crazed girl and grinned at her determination, it showed that she did indeed have the fighters spirit that Jupiter was famous for. She decided to end this as quickly as she could, but not enough to do any lasting harm to Jupiter. This was revenge after all. She raised her hands up, rubbed her fingers together, and pressed them into a triangle.   
  
Little sparks of energy flared around her hands and the triangle took on an almost solid shape just as Jupiter jumped up into the air and tried to kick her in the head, but Amy's hands shot forward and fired her blast right into Jupiter's stomach. She was slammed backwards nearly fifty yards before she came to a stop. Amazingly enough the pony tailed girl staggered back to her feet and tried to take up the fight again, but Jupiter fell over several seconds later as Amy came over and looked down at her.  
  
"Good fight Jupiter. That beating was for trying to kill me without any reason to do so. I also did it because I wanted to see just what you were capable of in a fight. This last thing is because you are so cute and adorable and is the final stage of your punishment."  
  
"Wha...???" Jupiter gasped out.  
  
Grabbing Jupiter's pink bow, Amy pulled the girl into a sitting position, and kissed her as passionately as she could. Jupiter's eyes shot open and she struggled against Amy's advances, but she was to weak to do much of anything. Amy's hand's caressed around Jupiter's body and tapped several shiatsu points. These were not the same one's that she had used against Mercury, that had been a simple one.   
  
This was on a hole new level, one that Amy had used in the past to safely take down certain enemies when they least expected it. Amy licked Jupiter's lips before she stood up and smiled at the girl, for all her height Makoto Kino was one good looking girl. Amy waved good bye and walked away even as Jupiter gasped in surprise and tried to fight off whatever Amy had done to her, but eventually she fell over, curled into a fetal position, and her eyes glazed over and a smile appeared on her face.   
  
Her whole body began shaking uncontrollably as she writhed in the grip of the most powerful orgasm she had ever experienced, her back arched and she screamed silently as she shivered and contorted...  
  
That was how the other scouts found her a little while later, on her back and moaning quietly. Every few seconds she shivered and moaned, totally caught up in the ecstasy that was filling her body and mind. She had given up trying to fight the effect and embraced it totally some time ago.   
  
Jupiter was drooling and her whole body a rosy red as she lay there writhing in the grips of the attack. Moon and Mercury ran to their friend and tried to comfort her, this only caused Jupiter to come again and pass out from the intensity of the physical contact. Venus and Mars gaped at the total destruction of the area around them, very little had survived the fight.  
  
"We need to take her out, NOW!" Mars screamed.  
  
Mercury looked up, noticed the destruction for the first time, as she pulled out her computer to scan though everything and see what was wrong with Jupiter. Moon held Jupiter in her lap and cried for her friend.  
  
"This looks worse than any of the battles we ever had with the Dark Moon  
  
Family!" Venus yelled. She noted the look of pleasure on Jupiter's face and silently wondered when this Amy Lee person was going to pay her a call.   
  
"Guys, my computer is reading a heavy amount of electrical wavelengths in the air. Most of it is seems to match Jupiter's attack, but on a more concentrated level. There is a smaller unknown type of energy on the roof of that building over there, but nothing I can figure out."  
  
"What's wrong with Jupiter?" Moon asked quietly.  
  
Mercury scanned her and blushed, "Amy seems to have done to her, something similar to what she did to me. Makoto is experiencing a series of uncontrollable..." Blush some more ... "orgasms. There is difference though. She is being affected far more severely than I was. I'm not sure what to do for her except let them pass. I really don't think she will mind all that much if that grin is any indication."  
  
Venus looked at Jupiter and broke out in giggles, followed by Mercury and Moon. Mar's didn't see what was so funny and glared at her friends. "That Bitch just beat the hell out of Jupiter and your laughing at her?!"  
  
"Calm down Mars, Jupiter hasn't suffered anything thing more than bruises, Amy Lee seems to have taken steps to make sure she didn't do any lasting harm to her."  
  
"How the hell can you tell that?!"  
  
"Jupiter is still breathing, she has no broken bones, and she has done exactly as she promised in that note. This (for lack of a better name), Orgasm Attack is very strong and Amy has promised to put all of us through something like this for what we did to her."  
  
"The quicker we stop this, the sooner we can get things back to normal..."  
  
"This wouldn't have happened it you and Jupiter hadn't attacked her in the first place." Moon said.  
  
Jupiter moaned again and opened her eyes and got to look right at the bottom curve of Sailor Moon's breasts, she gasped and blushed a solid red as a number of dirty ideas alighted across her mind. Moon looked down and smiled at her friend and hugged her closer, this jostled Jupiter just enough that it set off another powerful orgasm, or it might have been because Sailor Moon hadn't bothered to move and simply leaned over to hug her.   
  
Jupiter moaned loudly and arched back and writhed under the intense feeling for several seconds before collapsing, gasping for air. She gazed up at them with glassy looking eyes filled with desire. They all blushed and looked away at the erotic sight of their friend coming like that. Luna came running up and saw them standing around.  
  
"What are you doing, help her out of here. The Police are coming!" Luna yelled out.  
  
"Everyone detransform, Makoto's apartment is close by." Usagi said as she powered down. Everyone else followed suit and helped drag the moaning Makoto to her feet. Makoto couldn't even walk and she looked like she had been to a hell of a party as they half dragged, half carried the poor girl home. Usagi was worried about her friend and the others as well, whatever this Amy Lee was doing it could be very bad in the long run. Especially if Rie was any indication of how everyone was going to react this strange form of revenge.  
  
*********  
  
On top of a nearby building, Amy and Ranma stood and watched quietly as the Sailor Scouts transformed into their civilian identities. For Amy it was like finally having her memory restored in the instant as she saw the 5 girls without that damned disguise field of theirs. Amy smirked at finally being able to see the girls for the first time, mercury she had known, but she hadn't seen the girl detransform yet and it was the last piece of information she needed. Ranma was surprised when he recognized the black haired one, he had met her somewhere before.  
  
"Are they who you thought they were?" Ranma said. "You said your information was because you had encountered them in other dimensions."  
  
"They are exactly who I thought they were. Do you notice how they cluster around each other? They are friends as well as allies. That means that if I follow even one of them, I would eventually be lead to the others."  
  
"I've met that dark haired one before."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"It was on the training trip, a few years ago, Pop and I stopped at this Shinto Shrine here in Juban. She was the shrine maiden and had a temper worse than Akane's."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"She is the one that tried to kill me, Sailor Mars."  
  
"So that is Mars huh?" Ranma said. "She is a little cute, a lot more than what she was when I first met her."  
  
"You really think so?"  
  
"Yep." Ranma said.  
  
"Well good for you, if she had a temper worse than Akane's you'll make a perfect couple." Amy said and whacked him on the head.  
  
"What's that for?!"  
  
"I'll explain later, for now I think it is time to put the final plan into motion and end this little excursion into revenge. I've gotten one of the two I wanted and the last phase will be played on Sailor Mars. I have to make them more aware of their environment if I am going to use them to fix the other problems I have to stop. I can use Mars for that and get my revenge at the same time."  
  
"What about the others?"  
  
"I'll take your advice on that and leave them alone, Mars is the only one left that I want to do anything to, and I will use her to kill two birds with one stone. She is a priestess and can cast minor spells and create scrolls, mostly good luck charms and such and if she can't her grandpa can. I'll use that ability to bring more peace and light into this world and offset the growing darkness around us."  
  
"Can I help with this in any way?"  
  
Amy looked at Ranma and thought about it before nodding, "Here's what I have in mind..."  
  
*********  
  
A few days later...  
  
It was nearing 9PM when Usagi made it to the park running full tilt, her long braids whipping behind her at her frantic pace. She cruised by joggers leaving a dust trail, past the boat rental park near the small lake, and headed deep into the trees that made up the majority of the park. As usual she was running late, but she hadn't even gotten the note until she was heading off to bed and found it tapped to her pillow. Luckily she knew the location of where she was supposed to go or she would never have even found it.  
  
She whizzed past a couple of trees and finally slowed down at the entrance to the park floral area and skidded to a stop just as she reached the large fountain, she bent over and gasped for air and hoped the person she was here to meet hadn't left. She was wearing a blue wind breaker, coveralls, and a white t-shirt along with her running shoes. When she could finally breath again, she straitened up and looked around and wondered where Amy Lee was and why she had demanded she meet her at this time a night. Looking at her watch, she noticed that it was 9:08PM. Where was that girl?  
  
"Your here before 10, I'm surprised to say the least." Amy said as she walked out of the shadows nearby.  
  
Usagi spun around, gasping in shock and more than a little irritation. "What did you want?" How did you know I was Sailor Moon?  
  
"Of all the Scouts, your the only one I have no intention of doing anything too, if that is what you mean. You didn't try to kill me or attack me like the others and since I don't like to kill Indiscriminately, I'm getting my revenge in this way."  
  
"But why this way, it's so...so p-perverted!"  
  
Amy grinned, "True, but it will make a lasting impression on all of you and will satisfy my honor with out me having to draw blood, and anyway it is a lot of fun."  
  
"You beat the hell out of Jupiter." Usagi growled out, trying not blush at what else she had done to her.  
  
"Jupiter was the one that tried to actually kill me, she almost succeeded too. Did any of you even consider that I may have been helping you out? No, you jumped to conclusions and believed yourselves right. I actually had no intention of interfering in your fight. At the time I was still recovering from a nearly fatal attack I received several days ago. I barely had the strength to do what I did to save you and I nearly died for it!" Amy snapped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"A few weeks ago I was kidnapped and tortured by one of my stronger enemies, he nearly succeeded in breaking me and killing me, but I proved to stubborn for him to continue and he...disposed of me and left me for dead. I ended up here and had to take some drastic measures to save my life. Then just several hours after I am starting to recover from this, I stumble across you guys getting your tails kicked. Cape boy shows up and starts attacking me for no reason and I was forced to subdue him and in my weakened state I couldn't do that softly."  
  
"Cape Boy? Do you mean Tuxedo Mask?"  
  
"Yeah, that's the name he used, but I was just a little irritated at him at the time."  
  
Usagi sighed. "Is there anyway you can just forgive us?"  
  
"My honor must be salvaged."  
  
"That is so, like, last century."  
  
"Yeah, I know, but it was the way I was raised and is one of the few things I still follow. Tell you what, how about we make a deal?"  
  
"A deal?"  
  
"Yep." Amy grinned lecherously.  
  
Usagi stepped back a few paces and gulped, her heart racing.  
  
"I've been studying up on you Scouts for the last few weeks, following you around and such. You girls have lived the most charmed lives I have ever seen! You are all perfectly normal, boy crazy girls who like to hang out and have fun with each other. Then at night you dawn those sexy customs and go out and fight off evil monsters like out of some anime or something."  
  
Sexy costumes?  
  
"I have made it pretty clear what I like and what I can do, I want one of you girl's to give themselves to me for a little fun."   
  
"What kind of fun?"  
  
Amy grinned, "Bedroom fun."  
  
"That's disgusting!"  
  
"Why?" Amy asked, generally puzzled.  
  
"...What your asking is for one of us to jump into bed with you, a compete stranger and have sex?! That requires love and friendship as well as respect, something that you haven't shown any of us!" Usagi yelled, appalled.  
  
"I have my reasons, but only Mars or Venus will do and if they agree, I will back off and let you get on with defeating this new enemy of yours." Amy said as she stepped close to Usagi and looked down into her sparkling blue eyes, she was surprised to actually read a little interest there.  
  
"Then I offer my self..."  
  
"No Sailor Moon, of all of the Scouts I won't take you because you are the only one who has consistently declared that you thought trying to kill me was a very bad thing to do. Talk to them and meet me here in a few days time, I will back off for now, I have some other things I need to take care of in the mean time."  
  
A shiver went down Usagi's spine as Amy stepped back, jumped into the air nearly 40ft and flew off over the trees. Her heart was pounding madly and realized that she had been very willing to give into Amy Lee's demands. She fell to her knees hugging herself. She loved Mamoru heart and soul, and yet she had been willing to give herself to another, she didn't know why either. She sat there and thought about her actions for a few minutes and started as she heard foot steps behind her.  
  
Turning around, she spotted a young girl with red hair walking out of the woods. She was wearing Chinese clothing and was very...um...healthy for someone her age. It took a second, but she recognized her by Jupiter's descriptions as the girl that worked with Amy Lee. She stopped moving and smiled at Usagi hesitantly before sitting down next to her.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"..."  
  
"Please don't hold Amy's strange appetites against her, she is very friendly and can be a good ally if you let her."  
  
"...but what she wants...is so..."  
  
"I have known her for a little while now and she was very angry with you girls for attacking her. She believed that you were supposed to be the good guys and wouldn't hurt those that didn't deserve it. Then she had that trust destroyed when your friend tried to kill her only a few days after someone else had tried to do the same thing."  
  
"I don't think any of my friends will give into her demand."  
  
The red head shrugged, "I don't agree with it either, but she is very strong willed and does have a right to do so, and she will attack those last 2 girls, especially that black haired one who set everything in motion in the first place."  
  
"What would you do?"  
  
"Personally? I'd beat the crap out of her, but that is isn't to say you have to. This a matter of honor to her, an odd ball version to be sure, but honor none the less and that means it needs to be taken seriously."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"Saotome Ranko, for now anyways."  
  
"I'm Usagi, are you willing to help me calm her down?"  
  
"We'll see, I will try and keep her from harming any of the other girls, but I won't stop her from doing anything for now. A couple hours of writhing from super powerful orgasms is such a heavy price to pay for trying to kill her, don't you think?" Ranko said and sighed wistfully.  
  
Usagi giggled and nodded, of all her enemies, none of them had attacked them with super powerful orgasms as a form of attack, it was almost funny. Ranko got up patted Usagi's shoulder walked off into the shadows after she waved goodbye. Usagi wasn't sure what was going on but she decided to call a meeting and let everyone know what was going on. Standing up, she pulled her communicator out and tapped the non-emergency all call button.  
  
"Hi Usagi!" Minako said as she answered.  
  
"I just had a little talk with Amy Lee."  
  
"What!?" Her friends exclaimed.  
  
"She didn't do anything to me, we just talked."  
  
"What did that maniac do?"  
  
"She suggested a way for her to not hit all of us with that strange attack of hers."  
  
"Oh?" Said Ami.  
  
"Yep, she got most of her revenge a few days ago when she got you Makoto since you are the one that tried to kill her. She is after Rei too, but she is trying to make amends."  
  
"What does she want?" Makoto asked. Her bandaged shoulder showing on the communicator screen.  
  
"She wants one of you to have sex with her." Usagi said calmly, trying to hide her grin at the perverted idea.  
  
"WHAT!?"  
  
"That's gross!" Screamed Rei.  
  
"Really?" Mina said calmly.  
  
"That's all?" Ami said and blushed.  
  
"...gulp..." Makoto flinched and blushed.  
  
"That was pretty much my reaction too, she wants Mars or Venus to give their bodies to her freely. If one of you does this she will back off and not do it to any of the others."  
  
"I'll rip her spine out! I'll shove a flame attack right up her Ass!" Rei screamed and shuddered violently as she cut off her communicator.  
  
"Is there anything else Usagi?" Ami asked timidly.  
  
"I also had a talk with that other red headed friend of hers, a Miss Saotome Ranko. She explained a little of Amy Lee's thinking. This a matter of honor to her and she won't stop until her honor is restored."  
  
"Honor?" Ami asked, puzzled.  
  
"Yeah, did any of you know that Mamoru attacked her first?"  
  
"When did he do that? He hasn't been around for some time now." Ami said and realized that they hadn't seen Mamoru since that first fight. He had looked pretty good as the sat there tied up in only his underwear. The girls giggled as they all remembered the scene.  
  
"Right before she saved me from that monster."  
  
The conversation fell apart from there into yet another gossip session as Usagi walked out of the park and headed home, she promised to be at Makoto's apartment tomorrow for another meeting. From the bushes nearby, Luna watched her charge worriedly and wondered what was happening. There was something in the air and it felt bad, very bad, even worse than when the Scouts went off to fight Queen Beryl.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	7. Strange Days06 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 06  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
She stood up shakily and wondered what had happened, there had been a slight disorientation just as she was about to look into a strange anomaly, she remembered pain and agony like the cold embrace of death. After that had come even more pain with every movement she made, she had collapsed after that and then she awoken like this. She was Sailor Pluto again, she was in uniform and standing before the Time Gate as if nothing had happened. It felt wrong somehow, but she couldn't put her finger on why, just that something was out of place. She could feel something in the air and she needed to know what it was.  
  
The Gate opened at her command and she focused on the present time line, what had changed and when. She delved into the past and watched the Inners as they went about their business as normal, school, boys, flirting, and more boys. That was pretty much normal and something she had seen hundreds of times so she just skimmed over them and moved on. Sailor Pluto stood back and probed deeper into the time line, what was wrong, why was she felling like this?  
  
She reset the Time gate and started to scan the time streams in a more in-depth and through way. After several minutes of searching she was presented with hundreds of intersecting lines of fate. Skimming through them with practiced ease, she narrowed things down to only a few minor possibilities. They all involved a man who...  
  
He was a man dressed in gray and black cloak like garments. He stood over 2 meters high and carried a large backpack over his shoulder like it was not even there, but if one was to look closely, they would see that it was straining the straps to their very limits. He was walking through the night darkened forest like a wraith, stepping into and out of shadows with every step.   
  
In his wake was a dreadful sight, animals and plants were strewn to and fro as they died in agony. Why was the question, he didn't touch them, he didn't seem to target them, he only walked by and they died agonizing deaths in a mater of seconds after he passed by.  
  
In the distance a large mountain came into sight, just as he was leaving the forest he looked around just a couple of trees died and fell under their own weight. It caused a horrendous crash as they took of the several others with them. He ignored the destruction after that and continued forward in a determined way. Pluto wasn't sure who this was but he was having a major effect on the time line, more than anyone she had ever seen, his mere presence was enough to warp reality to his wishes.   
  
It was a disturbing sight to Pluto, she continued to watch him as the gate sped things up by several hours. He had finally reached the base of the mountain and looked upon it with a look of great suffering that seemed to clothe the man in fog. He looked up into the sky and with a tensing of his powerful legs, he launched high into the air, landed on a small crag and rebounded farther up the mountain side.  
  
He never hesitated as he jumped from spot to spot, never faltered, and never missed his landing point and in a mater of minutes was several thousand feet up the mountain and moving faster than the human eye could follow. Pluto was amazed. She hadn't seen anything like this in centuries. He eventually landed on a small ledge that would have been hidden from below and glanced around casually, his powerful form almost glowing with power. A few feet away there was a large door designed to blend in with the mountain coloring, there were small symbols carved into the stone on and around the door.  
  
With a grunt, he un-shouldered his pack and sat it at his feet and opened it. He pulled out a large leather bound book. He flipped through the book for several minutes until he located a certain page, read out the garbled words on the page, and pointed his hand towards the door. The symbols started to glow an angry red and exploded violently, debris of centuries came crashing down around the man as she stood there batting the larger pieces of stone out of his way until he had finally cleared the area of loose stone.  
  
He grunted in frustration as several larger pieces of stone had fallen down and covered the door way during the explosion, but he just frowned and casually kicked the one and two ton boulders off the edge of the ledge. The door was now in pieces, there was a dark colored smoke slowly making its way out of the opening and rising into the sky. He smiled, picked up his pack, and quickly entered the doorway. The screaming soon started and didn't start for the longest time, but it was replaced by the most maniacal laugh anyone had ever heard...  
  
Pluto had to stop watching after a while, what she had seen wasn't something she wanted to remember. She also felt really strange, but she was getting used to it and made a note to look into it later. In the last 10,000 years she had never caught a cold or been sick with anything so she was a little worried. She would have to talk to Mercury at some time to see what was wrong, she thought as she shut down the gate for the day.  
  
*********  
  
Amy adjusted her blonde wig to make sure it would stay on for as long as it would be needed, checked her borrowed school uniform and made sure her breasts looked larger with those false gel breasts she had put into her bra. She looked like a short haired version of Minako and figured that Rei wouldn't recognize her if she was careful.   
  
She had put a lot of thought into this plan and figured that neither Rei or Minako wouldn't be willing to just give themselves to her no matter what. That didn't matter to Amy that much, she just did it to irritate them and give them something to be mad at her about. She didn't mind, that was why she had done it in the first place, Sailor Mars was next on her list.  
  
She giggled and started to get into her roll as the ultimate perky blonde, she would have to be convincing if she was to succeed, but she had done this before. She had expected Ranma to run back up, but he seemed to vanish the instant Amy mistakenly mentioned that the Scouts had two cats running around that helped them on occasionally.   
  
Amy had found him on the roof about an hour later, looking like he had just kicked a dog. She sat down and hugged him until he calmed down a little. She had completely forgotten just how much Ranma feared cats. It also seemed as if his fear of cats was pretty bad in this dimension. So she told him to sit this one out and left before he could protest. The uniform and wig had come from Nibiki and had only cost her 5000 yen, but she figured since the money went towards the Tendo house hold it wasn't so bad.  
  
Kasumi had helped her get dressed up and loaned her the gel cups, a surprising thing to find out about the quite girl as well. She had quickly agreed and handed them over without a word of protest. Amy had explained what she was going to do. They had giggled over it for a couple of hours before Amy had to leave. After that Amy had nearly walked into Akane, who didn't recognize her and went from confused to instantly hostile, a state that Akane had been in for some time now.   
  
Amy had kind of regretted that thing with the card that riled Akane up so much, but had never expected it to last this long. Amy had tried to explain what was going on, but Akane, as usual had ignored everything and tried to kill the pervert that had invaded in her home. Amy had finally been forced to toss the girl in the koi pond and vanish before she surfaced. Ranma had gotten the mallet again when he fell off the roof laughing at Akane in the pond instead of him. It was quite a change from the way things normally way.  
  
The stairs to the temple were steep and about 300 of them leading to the top of a hill and though the main gate that lead into the small court yard of the temple. Amy continued to get into character as she climbed, putting on a vapid expression of total ditz-hood, wiggling her hips as she had been trained to by her sex-ken master, and chewed on her bubble gum. Blowing a bubble she topped the stairs and walked through the tall entrance gate. An old man, maybe 4ft high noticed her and was instantly by her side looking up at her.  
  
"Well hello there! How can I help you, do you need a blessing, a charm, a job as a temple maiden." He said suggestively.  
  
Amy giggled, rubbed the top of his head and blew another bubble. The old man seemed to blush and ate up the attention. "Actually I need a spell scroll."  
  
"A spell scroll?"  
  
"Yep," Giggle. "A spell of good fortune for my grades, the charms just don't seem to work." Giggle, blow bubble that sticks to her nose, and blush.  
  
"Grandpa!" The raven haired beauty yelled from inside the temple.  
  
The old man starts, laughs, and starts to run as the girl grabs a broom and chases him around for several minutes. Eventually she stops and makes her way back over to Amy giving the old man an evil glare. She tosses the broom to him and turns to Amy. "Can I be of assistance?"  
  
"I need to get a spell scroll."  
  
"A scroll?"  
  
"Yep." Amy grins.  
  
"Well how about a charm instead, the scrolls are bit expensive."  
  
"Tried charms, they don't work at all."  
  
"Well okay, the scrolls are 10000 yen apiece."  
  
Amy nodded and pulled out her wallet, grabbed out 12000 and handed it to Rei. "Here you go, there is a little extra there for a really good one designed for giving good fortune, I really, really need it."  
  
Rei takes the money and points to a small concession stand along the side of the temple. "Meet me over there in a few minutes, I have to go and get the scroll out of the temple itself."  
  
"Of course." Amy says, blows a bubble, winks at Rei and wanders over to the stand. Rei sweat drops and heads into the temple looking a little harried.  
  
Amy, in full tease mode, leans against the counter and hikes up her uniform skirt and adjusts her thigh high stockings and giggles quietly as the old man falls over and starts to twitch, holding his nose. Ranma, who had been following Amy, saw as well and caught himself as he almost fell out of the tree and turned a solid red. Amy's disguise was hard to spot unless you knew what to look for and Ranma had almost lost her on several occasions, but she had the greatest ass he had ever seen and her wiggle was hard to miss no matter what she was wearing.  
  
Back at the concession stand, Amy accepted the scroll from Rie, waved goodbye, and seemed to bounce out of the area as she dashed off giggling. This left Rie with a big sweat drop forming and she muttered under her breath about Usagi's ditziness being contagious or something. Rie sighed as the strange girl finally left, pocketed the 12000 yen and moved to head inside and put the money away when a chill went down her spine. She spun around to look for the danger, but when she spotted it, she froze in shock.  
  
"SWEETOOOOO!!!!!!!!"  
  
Rei spun around as this brown and black blur jumped off the top of the temple and headed right for her. She tried to block whatever it was, but it swerved around her arm and attached itself to her chest. Her head snapped down and noticed an old man with a perverted grin leering up at her, he was nestled between her breasts...fondling...her...and...Squeezing her...  
  
Rei screamed and tried to hit the old man, but he flowed out of the way of her fist, hopped back and held up a bra and panties. They were familiar, but she couldn't quite place them, then she felt a draft. The wind was blowing lightly enough to make her hair shift, and the old man bounded away cackling at her shocked expression. Rei growled and her vision went red with anger and she burst into a red aura of rage, grabbed her broom and headed off after the old pervert. Several seconds later about a dozen other half naked girls made their way though the temple grounds as they chased after Hopposai.  
  
*********  
  
Ami knocked on the door to Makoto's apartment and heard her call out to wait a few seconds, it ended up being closer to several minutes before the girl opened the door. When it was opened and a very dishelved Makoto grunted as she let Ami in, a strange smell hit her and she shook her head to get rid of it. Makoto was wearing a house worn coat and looked as if she had been in a wild fight. Her hair was down and a complete mess, her eyes were blood shot and there were bags under her eyes that told Ami that she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. Ami gasped and quickly shut the door for the overly slow Makoto. She helped her friend to the couch and sat her down without much effort.  
  
"Makoto what happened?"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it." Makoto said.  
  
"Please, let me help, what happened to you?"  
  
Ami had never known her friend to let herself go like this, it was uncanny. Then Ami caught the smell, alcohol, she gaped and looked around at the beer cans all over the kitchen. "You've been drinking!?"  
  
Makoto grunted and waved her hand, her head was pounding.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To forget, it didn't work to well."  
  
"I don't understand."  
  
"I have to forget what that girl did to me, it was horrible Ami, beyond anything I have ever experienced before."  
  
"...but she didn't even hurt you all that bad, nothing worse than any Youma has ever done and a number of those were far worse than this."  
  
Makoto shuddered and tried not to think about it again, it didn't help all that much and she ended up curled into a ball on the couch. Ami was at her side instantly, and she was beginning to understand what was going on. She grabbed Makoto and held her for several minutes as she whimpered drunkenly.  
  
"It was the other aspect wasn't it?"  
  
Makoto nodded, not trusting herself to speak.  
  
"Please tell me why you are so bothered."  
  
"I...I like boys, boys only Ami, what she did was uncalled for."  
  
"I felt it too; it wasn't all that bad Mako-chan."  
  
"No you don't understand, I...have never felt anything like that in my life and I loved it. God help me I loved every second of it and I feel dirtied by the experience because I want to feel that again and again. I can't get the lust out of my mind, the ecstasy as my body quaked against my will or when I touched my self."  
  
"Oh, that feeling." Amy blushed and hopped her friend wouldn't look in her purse.  
  
"I like boys, I like boys, I like boys." Makoto chanted into Ami's shoulder.  
  
Ami, blushed as an idea suddenly came to her, she shivered and tried to ignore the feelings she was starting to feel. Unlike Makoto, she had no qualms with having a relationship with another girl so long as there was love involved. Licking her lips and using all of her will power to keep control of herself, Ami sat her friend up and pull her to her feet. She pulled her friend to the bathroom, blushed a little, and pushed her friend inside.  
  
"Mako-chan, take a bath and clean yourself up, you stink. You have nothing to worry about either. We'll talk when you get out here okay?" With that she closed the door on the bewildered face of her friend and went to make some tea. About 40 minutes later Makoto came back out into the front room dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Ami decided to tell her friend about her feelings on what had happened, the brown haired girl was more than a little surprised. She would never have thought Ami had it in her to do something like that. It went against everything she knew about the girl.  
  
"So you're saying you could actually do it with another girl and not feel bad about it?"  
  
"Yes, I think if I like them enough I could do it easily."  
  
"I don't think I could..."  
  
"You like men too much."  
  
Makoto blushed and nodded.  
  
Beep, beep, beep...  
  
Ami growled suddenly as her communicator went off, she tapped the answer button and looked at the screen with a frown.  
  
"Ami, Moon here, we have a situation in the park."  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"Amy Lee is here as well as several Youma, she has just cast some kind of spell."  
  
"Makoto and I are on our way."  
  
"Hurry up! I'm not sure I can do this one alone." Moon said and cut the communicator off.  
  
They got up and ran to the park...  
  
*********  
  
Walking down the street Amy stopped at a small stand and purchased a large lemonade and a candy bar. She was feeling good and figured she would have things cleared up by the end of the day if everything went as planned. She had asked Ranma to take a few minutes to talk to Usagi after last nights meeting, that should have riled the fire headed Mars to no end and was exactly what she had wanted. It would force the girl right into her plans. She was considering this when she suddenly felt the presence behind her, a dark presence.   
  
Pretending not to notice she kept going until she reached a public bathroom and dashed inside, found a stall and changed out of her disguise and into her normal out fit. The wig and everything else went into subspace before she left the bathroom. A few minutes later the red head stepped out and walked away, she cursed as the dark presence seemed to keep up with her. That meant that it knew who she was or that it could track her somehow.  
  
The streets were too crowded for a full scale battle, but a plan was forming in her mind and she began to see a way to kill two birds with one stone. This presence was sneaky, but she knew it wasn't a major threat, that meant that she could proceed with her original plan and include it into the mix and see where things went from here.   
  
Sending her senses out, she smiled as she instantly located Ranma following her, just behind the dark presence. Amy grabbed her bag so that she wouldn't drop it by accident and launched herself into the sky with a mighty jump, bounced off a building, and landed on top of the gate to the park to get a look at what was following her. When she saw nothing she hopped off the gate and ran deeper into the park.  
  
The air above the gate distorts and wavers for a brief second and a woman in a black dress appears, hovering in the air emitting an evil aura of power that scares the hell out of everyone that can see her, any number of dark shapes flutter down to the ground all around her, they have no main shape and blend into the back round and it is hard to look on them directly. She points and they launch after Amy, some taking to the air, others loping along the ground like deformed dogs.   
  
"Go and get her, but don't hurt her because we need to use her for our plans."  
  
They all nod and take off. One of them runs through the park and right through a picnic with a blonde haired girl and her boyfriend, they are thrown off their feet and hurled back several feet.  
  
Usagi growls and wonders how she is the one that is always interrupted when she is spending time with Mamoru, does it happen to the others Scouts? Almost never, maybe once or twice, then it always comes and seeks her out to ruin her relationship with Mamoru. Climbing to her feet she takes off after the dark shapes, they eventually enter the woods at the edge of the park lake and spread out through the trees. Once she is out of sight, she quickly transforms into Sailor Moon and takes to the trees too. She can hear a fight the distance and catches, she catches a flash of red hair jumping and dodging wildly just at the edge of the lake.  
  
They had come at her from all directions just as she reaches the edge of the lake in the middle of the park. The fight is furious as Amy Lee dodges and attacks with blinding speed, the creatures are like shadows and seem to just absorb the blows and attacks like they were nothing much. Amy curses and wonders where she went wrong in assuming this threat would be a push over, she hadn't expected for her follower to have these kinds of monsters at the ready.   
  
Weaving around she charges up some power into her hands and feet and starts to cause damage to the shadow like creatures. She fails to notice the one behind her as it lashes out with a blow to her back and sends her flying into the lake with a huge splash, the rest of the creatures suddenly stop and seem to glare at the attacker, it sweat drops and hangs its head.   
  
Usagi nearly falls out of the tree she is in, she turns her head and watches the lake and hopes Amy Lee is alright. A hand grabs her and pulls her to safety and looks back in the eyes of Amy's friend, Ranko. "Wha..."  
  
"Are your friends coming?"  
  
"I called them a few minutes ago?"  
  
"Good, we have to help Amy. I can feel the evil power in the air and it is strong enough to make me worry."  
  
"Evil power?" Moon asked.  
  
A flash of black energy erupts over the area and the woman appears again, she lands and thumps the shadow thing on the head and scowls out at the lake, which is calming down.   
  
"I told you not to harm her!"  
  
There is no sign of Amy Lee as the waves settle down and Usagi begins to worry, but Ranko holds her in place and motions for her to be quiet. Usagi doesn't understand but agrees for now, unless something comes up. Ranko just nodded and watched, she was worried for Amy as well, but knew a hit like that wouldn't have her all that much so she figured the girl was planning something. Several of the flying shadow creatures begin to strafe the lake looking for the girl and get their answer when they are suddenly blasted out of the air. Then the energy forms a pattern under the water, flares up, and a pentagram shaped beam of energy launches into the sky and vaporizes several more of the creatures.  
  
Water is blown thousands of feet into the air as Amy Lee, glowing like a demon from hell and humming with contained power slowly rises out of the water inside the pentagram beam. More of the shadow creatures launch themselves at her and impact on the beam only to vanish. Amy pulls out a scroll, breaks the seal, and begins to chant in a language that no one recognizes, but the effect is immediately seen.   
  
The scroll suddenly bursts into flame and turns into a large symbol of Mars that launches into the stratosphere, rising for what seems like several minutes and explodes over the city like a giant firework. Usagi is shocked as she finally loses her balance and she falls out of the tree, landing on her face. Ranko curses her luck and vanishes back into the woods so that no one can see her, but not to far.  
  
"Ite!" Moon says as she sits up and rubs her back.  
  
The woman and her creatures spin around and take notice of Sailor Moon, the creatures growl and launch themselves at her, but she screams and scrambles back just as a red blur grabs her and launches them at a tree and from there into the sky. Moon opens her eyes and sighs as she finds herself in Ranko's arms. They flip around in mid air and land on the other side of the lake just as Tuxedo Mask finally finds them and lands nearby and tosses a dozen roses into the shadows. This has no effect of course and the shadows are soon converging on them.  
  
Ranko tosses the stunned Sailor Moon into Mask's arms and hops off to see if she can help out Amy as she hovers above the lake.   
  
"She's all yours now Tux Boy." Ranko calls back with a laugh.  
  
"We have to stop those creatures. They are some kind of Youma." Moon says as she gets back on her feet.  
  
"What about the girl?" Tuxedo Mask yells as they begin to fight the shadow monsters that are getting to close.  
  
"She saved me, she is not the enemy, now help me out here!" Sailor Moon yells out.  
  
"But..."  
  
"Move it!" Usagi yells, over the years she had been forced to be the leader of the scouts, she didn't like it, but she did do the job. She pulled out her scepter and fired off an attack at the monsters blowing several into tiny little pieces that rained down on the landscape. One by one the rest of the Scouts arrived and helped to clean up the monsters. Jupiter got two and electrified the lake, Mercury got one and froze the lake.   
  
Mars fired off several shots and ended up taking out one and setting the rest of the trees on fire while Venus took out the last 3 in quick succession with her chain attack. The woman who seemed to be leading the monsters simply shrugged at being defeated and quickly vanished in a burst of dark light, she was pulling several of Masks roses out of her shoulder as well.  
  
Above the lake Amy flared with light and looked right at Sailor Mars as she arrived and smirked at her just as she vanished completely. Mars froze in shock and had to dive out of the way of an attack just as Neptune fired and helped her out. With Uranus' help the Outers also helped to contain the growing fire that had been started in the woods.   
  
Mercury had her computer out and was scanning everything she could to try and get a better idea of what was going on. Sailor Saturn came in last and stood guard over Sailor Moon while Mask searched the trees for more enemies, a rare sight indeed. Then they all noticed the little golden sparkles that were drifting over the city and wondered what the hell they were and what they could mean.  
  
"Mercury what is this stuff, it just vanishes when it hits you?" Jupiter called out.  
  
"I'm not sure what they are exactly...energy of some kind..." Mercury said and started to grumble to herself as she worked. "They are particles of pure goodness, totally harmless to all living things, it will also counteract an of the evil energy it might come in contact with."  
  
"Why the hell would that bitch cast a spell like this?" Mars yelled, she felt strangely ashamed of her actions of late, though she wasn't about to admit it to anyone.  
  
*********  
  
Moving as quietly as she could, Amy tiptoed her way into the back yard of the house and stood before the koi pond with her hands behind her back. She watched the fish play in the moon light as she stood there and wondered if what she had done earlier was going to be enough. Casting that spell had taken allot out of her and it would be several days before she could do any kind of major sparring because of it.   
  
Unlike Ranma, she depended on her Ki to help her in her fights and to keep her alive, it was her very essence. It was like a force of nature that could ebb and tide like all things in nature, it was one of her main weaknesses, though she rarely needed to even think about it since she could store large amounts of the stuff away for later use. Ever since coming to this world her power levels had been idling at about 20% her normal strength and it was causing her a number of problems.  
  
Lately, due to correcting some of the damage her crossing over had caused, she had been forced to use her powers at a larger than normal rate and it was beginning to show. She could steal it if she really needed to, but that wasn't right and she couldn't count on the monsters to pop up every other week just to give her a recharge, even if there was such a thing as the Monster of the Week.   
  
She needed a new power source, but to switch would mean stranding herself here for at least 20 years while it rebalanced itself. A quick pull of outside energies was easy, but it want pure energy and would be less and less effective as time went on, she needed something that was native to this dimension and something that her enemies couldn't block or use against her.   
  
Ever since crossing over she had been able to feel the darkness growing all around her and affecting people on a subconscious level. Akane was a good example of this and it worried Amy that Akane hadn't reacted in the way she thought the girl would. She had thought that getting her to be a better fighter and training her, Akane would be able to better control herself.   
  
Unfortunately the girl had done the exact opposite and moved down into pure rage and had been getting worse and worse. The growing darkness had been weakened by her spell, but it was still there and had only been set back a little, the feelings in the air hadn't changed very much.  
  
Those shadow monsters had been an unexpected set back, they had been far stronger than she had expected. As the darkness grew, so did its power and those that used it for their own ends. All of these problems could be traced back to her when she was thrust into this dimension against her will. No matter how she looked at it the whole thing seemed to be her fault. Amy walked over to one of the larger stones and sat down on it in a lotus position. She didn't know what to do, staying her for several years didn't bother her that much, but she wanted to be happy with her decision.   
  
If she was rejected by everyone for doing so she would have to vanish off the face of the planet. To stay here after she had caused anyone pain went against everything she believed in, she had live for far to long to not care about things like that. It was always easier to leave and let things get back to normal after she was gone out of everyone's lives, and yet there was that one little hope of hers keeping her here currently.  
  
Sure she had this mess to settle, but after that she had to make a choice and she didn't want to make something out of nothing like she had on several other occasions in the past. Amy sighed, she always grew depressed when she began to like being in a particular dimension better than others. So far her ride had been fun and exciting. The Scouts were a great challenge and would soon be punished so that she could make peace with them, if possible. Then there was her other friend, Ranma, the boy was as striking as she had always believed. She was drawn to him like a moth to flame and made her like him, even love him in ways she hadn't explored in years.  
  
"Cough, cough."  
  
Amy turned around and spotted a young girl standing near the house, she was glowing in a way that a human could never accomplish. She had long white hair and little symbols on her face, Amy recognized her instantly. "Hello Bell."  
  
"Good evening Amy."  
  
"I expected you or one of the others some time ago."  
  
"We decided to see how you would handle things."  
  
Amy laughed and nodded.  
  
"Why have you never accepted the position that Father offered you all those years ago?"  
  
"Oh Bell, is that all you wanted to ask?"  
  
"Not at all, but if you had you could have corrected this situation easily."  
  
"True, I would also have to give up a good number of my friends to work for you. I would have to follow all orders and not question anything that I was doing, then I would have to fight in your wars and kill demons and other nasties because they are counter productive to your Father. No thanks, I had my caring soul ripped out of me years ago Bell. I may have gotten a little of it back because of this, but I will not be used as a soldier in someone else's battle."  
  
Bell grinned tiredly. "You just don't understand what was offered to you Amy, a home..."  
  
"A prison."  
  
"Friends..."  
  
"Who would abandon me the instant they were told to because I have such strange views."  
  
"Amy..." Bell started, then shrugged it away. "...never mind, lets get onto business then. Your spell is working very well and has cleaned up over half of the darkness let loose by your crossing over."  
  
"That much, I expected a third, if that."  
  
"Well we boosted the power of the spell to help the balance."  
  
"Oh? I didn't expect that either..."  
  
"Amy you don't need to by so cynical..."  
  
"Yeah right, after what happened last time I worked for you guys as a freelance agent? You betrayed me and left me to live forever in that dead world after you lost. I won't go through that again."  
  
"That was in another dimension Amy and wasn't us."  
  
"Baka, you do know that you are all the same people whatever the dimension your in. You all act the same, react the same, there is no difference between any of you. The only reason I haven't lost my temper yet is because it was a long time ago and I decided that it was done because of a group decision and not as a personal slight against me. That doesn't mean I will ever place any trust in you or you people again."  
  
Bell sighed and looked sadly at the pissed off girl in front of her and nodded. She phased out of existence and vanished without a thought and didn't see Amy sigh in return. She didn't see Amy wipe a tear off her cheek and go back to meditating for the rest of the night or hear any of the thoughts going through Amy's mind as she struggled with the weight of the world on her shoulders. The sound of foot steps alerted Amy to another visitor, but she recognized this one and smiled affectionately.  
  
"Amy? Are you okay?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I'll be fine, it took a lot out of me to cast that spell and I will be out of action for a little while. My whole existence is dependent on my Ki and I over used it today, I'm weaker than a normal human right now."  
  
"Oh, I've done that a couple of times when I was learning how to control my Ki."  
  
"I wouldn't have done it either except that I must halt the flow of darkness entering this world before things go from bad to worse."  
  
"I said I would help you and I meant it Amy, we are friends aren't we?"  
  
"Of course we are, Ranma no Baka." Amy said grinning.  
  
"Hey!"  
  
Amy giggled and instantly felt better. "What time is it?"  
  
"About two in the morning, why?"  
  
"Why aren't you asleep?"  
  
"Um..." He blushed.  
  
"Oh Ho! Secret date huh? Who was it?" Amy asked in quick succession and pounced on Ranma, throwing the stuttering boy to the ground and tickling him as quick as she could.  
  
"Hey!...hhahahahahhahahahahah..."  
  
Amy stopped laughing suddenly and paled as she felt a surge of dark power that covered the entire city. She jumped off Ranma and spins around just as Ukyo and Shampoo arrived and interrupted them, what they were doing there at that time in the morning was a complete mystery. They saw Ranma apparently having his way with yet another girl, and attacked Amy instantly. She started to dodge and weave around both girls, but her energy reserves were nearly drained because of that spell.   
  
**********  
  
To be continued... 


	8. Strange Days07 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 07  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Tired eyes flickered open and Amy winced and closed them again as the sunlight nearly blinded her, there were spots in her eyes. This is beginning to be too much of a habit, Amy thought as she slowly allowed her eyes to adjust to the bright light of the room. She'd been knocked unconscious more times in the last week than in all the times she had been in the last 20 years. She opened her eyes again and looked around the room now that she could see it, and noticed that she was in what looked like a hospital examination room. There were certain types of equipment on the walls that gave it away.   
  
"Where the hell am I now?" Amy mumbled to herself.  
  
"You're at Doctor Tofu's office Amy."  
  
Amy groggily lifted her head and noticed a beat up Ranma laying a nearby bed. "Oh that was a mistake, what happened to us to put us here?"  
  
"We were attacked by Ukyo and Shampoo, I think they were spying on us and decided that they didn't want us to have any fun together. What amazed me even more was that they were there at 2 in the morning." Ranma said as the door to the room opened.  
  
"Good morning Ranma, Miss. Lee."  
  
Again Amy turned her head and took in Dr. Tofu. He was wearing a dark brown smock and had on a pair of small glasses. Amy instantly remembered that this was the man that had a major crush on Kasumi and went insane in her presence. "Morning, so..." grin "what's up Doc.?"  
  
"If Ranma hadn't insisted other wise I would have sent you to the hospital as soon as I saw you. You took a major beating from those girls."  
  
"Exactly how bad is it?"  
  
"Shampoo impaled you on her sword and Ukyo nearly beheaded you."  
  
Amy shrugged and took note of her condition, her strength was way down and her power reserves were simply gone, anymore damage like that and her body would shut down for several weeks as it repaired itself. She could feel that she was absorbing small amounts of Ki right out of the air though, along with partials of light and very small amounts of Life Force energy.   
  
She was currently paralyzed from the waist down and her aura was flickering weakly, his was definitely the worst she had been damaged in some time, how she had avoided worse was a bit of a mystery. From the sounds of things she had died or nearly died and only her quick healing ability had saved her.   
  
Looking over at Ranma, Amy could see that he was watching her out of the corner of his eye as he lay there. There was more than a little fear in his eyes mixed with guilt and shame for the condition she was in. Amy figured he was thinking it was his fault or something like that, he didn't know about he dark surge of energy that had happened a few seconds before the fight happened. She looked over at him and smiled tiredly.  
  
"Don't worry Ranma, remember when I first came here and the kind of damage I had then? It's just a little slower this time because I have so little energy left, in a day or two, if I am allowed to rest properly, I should be fine."  
  
"Indeed, if I hadn't watched as your slit throat healed itself before my eyes I would have never believed what Ranma said." Dr. Tofu said.  
  
"I...I...w-was w-w-w-orried about y-you Amy, I thought you were dead when I found you covered in all that blood." A look of anger registered on his face as he recalled the scene. "Shampoo was just pulling her sword out and Ukyo was wiping the blood off of her battle spatula, both of them had this satisfied look in their eyes that was almost to much to believe. I have never before hit a girl in anger, but those two, I punched both of them. I did it at Amaguriken speeds, hundreds of times before I was able to control myself." Ranma growled out and looked at his hands sadly.  
  
"I'm sorry Ranma, I never thought they would go that far." Amy said quietly.  
  
"I wanted to hurt them..."  
  
"Ranma, no...this is my fault." Amy said sadly and lay back down.  
  
"What?! After what they did to you and you say it is your fault?" Ranma yelled.  
  
"You know what I have been fighting again and why I was trying to bring a bit of fun and pleasure into the world, I told you what my presence will do the longer that I'm here."  
  
"What?" Ranma was now confused.  
  
"I told you when I came here that my very presence would cause this dimension to shift into a darker path, this is the exact type of thing I was talking about. They both are blameless in this, it is my fault for bringing this darkness down on your heads. I must stop it before it is too late."  
  
"Bullshit!" Ranma cursed.  
  
Amy giggled and sighed, "Doctor where exactly did Ukyo and Shampoo go?"  
  
"I have them in another room here in the clinic, why?"  
  
"Have you read their auras?"  
  
"Yes..."  
  
"They have little streamers of black floating around in the aura energy don't they?"  
  
"Those little steamers are what I have been trying to prevent since I arrived here, they are signs of the evil influence in this world growing more powerful in those poor girls. Do either of you think that under normal circumstances those girls would have done something like this? I don't, not even Shampoo would do some thing like this unless she was forced to. Even then she would have done a better job of killing me. She is an Amazon after all"  
  
"That doesn't count Amy, she nearly killed you. She would have if you had been a normal human." Ranma said.  
  
"True, but it is notoriously hard to kill me, I always come back from the grave be it a day or several years. Don't hold being under evil influences against them Ranma, they had no control over their actions while that surge was happening. Give them a bit of comfort and forgive them the help they are going to need when they wake up. By staying angry you are accepting those same evil influences into your aura. You have to make sure it doesn't happen at all."  
  
Tofu nodded and adjusted his glasses. "She's right Ranma, I could see the dark aspects manifesting in their auras as I examined them a little while ago, calm down and forgive them. This is battle of the mind Ranma and they let their emotions rule them instead of their minds and if you lose your temper, you will join them. You'll probably hurt some one you care about if you do."  
  
Ranma growled as she rolled off his bed and stomped out of the room. Dr. Tofu sighed and turned back to Amy. "You say this your fault?"  
  
"In a round about way, I had no control over what happened, but it started because of what happened to me."  
  
"Don't worry about it then."  
  
Amy shrugged, "Let him calm down or work off his anger Doctor. I will heal, but I need to find a proper energy source that I can use to empower myself. It seems the type of energy I'm using now just isn't working."  
  
"Energy source?"  
  
"Yeah, my body runs like an engine usually and has to have a powerful source of energy to run properly. Most of the energy that I have left right now is barely enough to keep me alive. I'm healing slowly, it will just take time.  
  
*********  
  
The Time Gate swirled with power as Sailor Pluto watched the events of the last 24 hours play out. She watched Amy conning Rei out of her scroll, the spell, the monsters, the new enemy, and her nearly fatal fight at the Tendo dojo. She was an anomaly. Pluto knew that for certain now and she needed to make sure things weren't destroyed before the world was destroyed. Surprisingly there were a few minutes the night before that Pluto wasn't able to observe and that was something that had never happened before.   
  
She had a Time Line to protect and that meant that she be forced to make some changes to protect the future that she had been trying to achieve for thousands of years. Stepping back fro the gate she concentrated and brought her staff to bare, energy formed around the Time Staff as it began to hum loudly and she smirked as she fired off a shot of deadly temporal energy directly into the scene the Time Gate was showing. She smiled as she saw the effects, exactly what she had wanted and giggled at the irony of the situation.  
  
Though she briefly wondered why something in the back of her mind was raging at her for breaking some rule. She shrugged it off, as an Outer Planet soldier she sometimes had to take actions that went against her own personal beliefs. The ends justify the means always brought about what she wanted.  
  
*********  
  
The feeling came upon her like a wave and Amy's head whipped around in its direction and she gasped in shock. She was feeling the most horrid and evil presence she had ever felt in her long existence, even worse, it was familiar in some way she couldn't place. It was still to far away to confirm, but she knew it was coming straight for her. This is what she had prayed would never happen and quietly wanted since she came here.   
  
Stopping the random bits of darkness from entering the world was relatively simple, all she had to do was just generate more passion and happiness to counter balance it. Now it seemed that the very forces she wanted to keep from entering this dimension had threatened her work, those evils that the Scouts were always dealing with were a good example.  
  
There was a problem though and Amy was just beginning to understand it, the Scouts usually had Sailor Pluto at the Time Gate calling the shots or moving them around with the precision of a chess master playing 5 games at once and always winning. Her crossing over had caused major havoc with the time stream and Pluto was missing.   
  
Amy had tried to look for her by following the arrogant Outer Scouts and listened in on their conversations and trying to be sneaky. After awhile she had overheard them talking about the ancient Pluto, she had been missing for some time now and no one knew how to contact her.  
  
Amy's highly honed senses were able to pick up the subtle shift in the flow of time if she looked for it, she just had to concentrate. Her presence was doing even more damage to this world than it normally would have. She was responsible for the shift in events and situations and had to find some way to make amends before she was erased from existence to correct things.   
  
Never had she expected things to be this bad, but Bellandy had hinted about the night before and she had missed it completely. Now she had to deal with this problem, she reached her senses out and touched Shampoo and Ukyo, Amy was not surprised that she could feel the darkness that had affected them slowly vanishing even as she lay there recovering from her recent injuries.  
  
The thing, leaching it from all the living things around them, was absorbing the darkness. This had the side effect of making things a little more normal among the people around her, but would make this thing monstrously powerful. The danger would be grave, the upcoming fight would be glorious win or lose, and she wondered again what was to come.   
  
Groaning in pain as the feeling in her legs finally returned, Amy sat up and rolled off the table in Dr. Tofu's clinic. She was naked except for the bandages which seemed to cover her up good enough for modesty's sake. She searched around for a few minutes until she found her pants and a t-shirt.  
  
Staggering to the door, Amy opened it up and lurched down the hall and out into the back yard of the clinic, she needed some time to herself and several hours of meditation would be just what she needed.. The yard was a little small and stood between two larger buildings and was connected to a small park beside the canal, only a tall fence and a door separated them.   
  
The ground was covered in a finely trimmed grass and looked healthy enough to be able to help her. Moving to the center of the yard Amy sat down and groaned in pain, getting into a lotus position she took a deep, painful, breath and went into a trance. Her body was in to much danger and with a danger like the one she sensed coming she needed to be in top form.   
  
So she had no choice, this needed to be done and it was only 20 years, barely a drop in the bucket for her. She quickly found her center and sent her mind deep into her soul, even further than Cologne had ever reached in three hundred years.  
  
An aura of pure red power enveloped her as she delved deep into her being calling on her two friends Midory and Aho for help. They agreed and complained at her for taking so long about it in the first place. Amy just sighed and delved deeper into her immortal soul and gathered in the Solar energies around her and added them into the aura increasing it's size by several times. Then it was done and she sighed in relief as her powers began to increase exponentially, what wounds she had left began to heal at a visible rate and her strength swiftly returned to the levels she hadn't felt since she was kidnapped a few weeks ago.  
  
That was it, she was now synqued to this reality for the next 20 years. She stood up and stretched out the kinks in her overly punished body. In the clinic behind her several people watched her quietly, some in fear and others in awe at the amount of power the girl was displaying. Ranma, who was watching her from the roof, was shocked that anyone could hold that much power and not die, he had to find out how she was doing it and add it into his own skills. He had that technique his father had just taught him, but it was very dangerous to use and even harder to practice within city limits.  
  
Cologne and Shampoo watched Amy from the clinic and grew even more worried. Cologne could feel the power flowing off the girl and knew that Shampoo would never be able to take her now. How could she when her opponent could hold enough power to level an entire mountain chain or fire off a blast that could carve letters in the lunar surface? Shampoo was speechless and in shock, the obstacle between her and Ranma was a monster of incredible strength and power. She knew that there was no way of beating her in a fair match now, but she was an Amazon and that meant she could do it by other routs. She sighed and turned to her Elder and silently asked for permission to unlock certain techniques she had been taught.  
  
Ukyo was oblivious to all this, she was crying, her eyes were red and she felt as if she had lost the center of her life. Ranma had told her what she did and simply asked why she had tried to kill his friend. His eyes had shown more anger and hatred toward her than she had ever seen in her life, even when she had pushed him to the brink when she tried to kill him 2 years ago. He hadn't yelled at her, he had just looked at her with that hurt and pain in his eyes and she knew she had gone too far and done something she would regret for the rest of her life. Ranma had left her there, begging for forgiveness. She had lost him.  
  
**********  
  
Ranma's life had been getting crazy lately and he knew it, he was up on top of the clinic looking up at the sky. He had just gotten done talking to Ukyo and felt bad about how he had treated her, but she had tried to kill one of his friends and enjoyed doing it. He had seen her face as she wiped the blood of her giant spatula. He had never seen something so horrifying in his life, his friend had killed and liked it.   
  
Just the image of her smile made him shudder as he lay there, but Amy had said that they were not in complete control of their minds. Amy was a lost a bit of a problem for him, he was liking her better and better as the days passed. She treated him with respect and let him make his own decisions and yet let him know when he made a mistake and what he had done wrong.   
  
If she wanted to be friends he could live with that, but because of his family honor they could never be married if such a thing ever even came up. Over the last few weeks she had been trying to get Kanatsu to pursue Ukyo and they were working out fine, though Ukyo had refused to give up on Ranma. Ranma had never get over the cross dressing nature of either one of them.   
  
It was just too weird. Now things were getting even stranger, there was a new girl in his life and she admitted that the curse didn't bother her in the slightest. Everyone else had stated that they would prefer him without the curse and pretty much ignored it, not Amy though. She took him out to have fun, they played together and actually laughed.   
  
Why couldn't Akane ever do that, Ranma wondered, it would have helped things between them over the last 3 years. Instead it had turned into a ritual of some kind, wake up and get malleted, go to school and get splashed by the old lady and her perfect aim, then get ambushed by Shampoo, glomped and slammed head first into the concrete by Akane's mallet, etc...  
  
How in the world was he supposed to react to that, at first Akane had been the first human being to ever show him even the slightest amount of kindness, then because of the dammed curse all her friendliness had turned to hate and no mater how many times he saved her, protected her or even attempted to be nice to her, it all ended in a ride on Mr. Mallet!   
  
Ranma's aura sparkled into existence as he considered the way things have been going. Then there was this other problem that Amy was trying to stop, this darkness. Until she mentioned it he hadn't mentioned it, but now that he knew about it he could feel it in the air.  
  
He could tell that something was out of place, not with his body, but with the fundamental way things always felt. It hadn't been like this a few minutes ago, there was something in the air, almost like it was electrified. What in the world was going on, he thought to himself? Ranma headed outside, his injuries forgotten as he unconsciously moved along with a cat like grace granted to him from his Neko-ken training.   
  
There was crackling of dark energy in the sky above the clinic, he watched silently as it flared and fired at him from the clouds. It kind of reminded him of the day he had met Amy for the first time, but on a much lower power scale. He tried to dodge, but it adjusted itself in mid-air and hit him in the chest to explode. He was hurled back through the clinic, shattered several walls with his body, and landed in the back yard near where Amy was just getting up to see what was going on.  
  
She came running over to him and dug him out of the crater he had created. Smoke was wafting off him as she cleared the dirt away, but there was no visible signs of damage to his body. It seemed that only his clothing had been damaged. She couldn't help but blush at the sight of a very defined man in her arms. She picked him up and formed a shield of power around them as she carried him back into the clinic. Dr. Tofu dragged a stretcher out so that she could lay Ranma out on it. Dr. Tofu had said something, but she was so worried about Ranma that she didn't even listen to him.  
  
Dr. Tofu waited patiently for Amy to drop her shield, the look of pain on her face was a bit of a shock to him, but when it came to Ranma he had learned to expect it. The boy had a talent for attracting girls unlike anyone he had ever met. His patients paid off as Amy powered down and looked around the room, his hand lashed out and hit Amy's sleep point.   
  
She collapsed into his arms and he carried her back into the clinic and over to a nearby bed. He felt a little guilty for the look of betrayal on her face but Ranma didn't need anyone hovering over him while he rested. Turning back to Ranma he ignored the damage to his clinic. I wasn't the first time it had happened and wouldn't be the last, though Nabiki was going to get a call about this.  
  
*********  
  
Ranma's eyes fluttered open and he noticed that there was fog all over the place, it seemed to gloom all around him glow in an eerie way. He didn't know what was going on, but this was beginning to make him a little ticked off. Just how many times was his strange form of bad luck going to make his life miserable? There was a sudden noise from the gloom and he turned his head to see an older version of himself stagger out of the fog and fall drunkenly at this feet. He scrambled back at the smell of alcohol wafting off the thing that looked just like he did.  
  
"What the hell are you supposed to be?" Ranma snapped in disgust at the sight.  
  
His doppelganger started to laugh hysterically and pointed at him, "I-I'm you in about 3 weeks."  
  
"Bull shit! I never drink..."  
  
"You will! Bottoms up!" He yelled loudly and chugged down an entire pint of malt liquor.  
  
Ranma growled, grabbed his copy and beat the crap out of it while it laughed at him the whole time. Eventually he got bored and tossed him out into the strange fog with a snort. Mere seconds later Akane walks up behind him, he is so surprised that he hugs her, and she kicks him right in the balls. "PERVERT!!"  
  
Ranma crumples under the intense pain and glares up at her. "What are doing?!"  
  
"How dare you treat yourself like that? Do you have any idea what he had to go through just to get here?"  
  
"Listen tomboy..."  
  
Akane growled and punched him in the stomach. "He was supposed to show you some stuff about your past and explain a few things to you." She screamed and produced a giant mallet. "Do you have any clue in that tiny brain of yours just what has happened to you!?"  
  
"Groan..."  
  
"Amy Lee, remember her? She is from another dimension and has destabilized ours with her very presence. She is causing a thousand times more chaos than you ever could in a hundred years, but instead of bringing out super powered martial arts and fiancée's, her presence has created tons of the stuff that people call evil or darkness. She had been trying to contain it and would have easily done so with that spell she cast yesterday if the forces of darkness hadn't stepped in and fed off it like leaches!" Akane growled again as she raised her mallet high, thunder rumbled in the background, "and - WHAM - you -WHAM- are -WHAM-not -WHAM-HELPING HER!" WHAM WHAM WHAM WHAM!!!!  
  
Ranma twitched.  
  
"Well?!" She snarled.  
  
"Come on toots, he is as dense as a stone you know." A voice said from the fog. "His father raised him to be a living meal ticket. One that wouldn't question what was said to him and would always provide for him. Look how often the poor guy was sold for food." This was another version of Ranma, he looked to be about 19 or 20 and was wearing a pure black version of his regular clothing, and it was edged in silver studs.  
  
"I don't care, I am tired of him always running away from his problems..."  
  
"Hey!" Ranma yelled from the ground as he sat up.  
  
"He does it unconsciously girl." Said Dark Ranma.  
  
Akane held up her mallet and glared at the Dark Ranma, "Do you want some of this too you jerk?"  
  
He retreated a little. "N-now see her girl, we have a job to do before they catch on to us you know."  
  
"Just because we were forced to steal this cheesy idea..."  
  
"Like we had much choice..."  
  
"Freak!"  
  
"Flat chested!"  
  
"Hermorphadite!"  
  
Ranma seeing how things were going between the two decided it would be best if he left the area, he recognized the signs after all, he started to crawl away, but Akane noticed and her giant mallet launched him into the stratosphere like an oversized baseball. "Come back here you BAKA!" She screamed and ran after him.  
  
The Dark Ranma sweatdropped and shook his head.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	9. Strange Days08 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 08  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
There was a flash of light and Ranma gasped as he found himself flying through normal air again, then he slammed into the side of the Tendo dojo face first, where he landed chest first into the mud at the base of the house. He recalled that it was common occurrence because of all the rain they got in Nerima, but it was still a pain in the ass. It was raining heavily, like usual, and he turned into a girl within moments of touching the mud.   
  
She crawled to her feet just as Akane's mallet came out of nowhere to push his head through the very wall he had just moments before slammed into, it hurt like hell. Growling in frustration, Ranma pulled her head out of the hole and glared at Akane, who was grinning at him in an innocent and overly cute manner.  
  
"What are you hitting me for this time?" Ranma snapped, she wasn't in the mood for this kind of crap today.  
  
"You deserved it, if not now, then later."  
  
"Akane, I told you I wouldn't put up with being hit anymore."  
  
"Then listen up and pay attention, this is a kind of waking dream for you, do you understand?"  
  
"No."  
  
"See, I knew you could get it, now follow me into the house because I want to show you something." Akane stomped through the open door that led into the main room.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It is time for you to see my greatest secret."  
  
"Huh?! What secret?"  
  
"Just follow me and find out idiot!" Akane yelled back.  
  
Ranma scrambled to catch up with her and had to jump over a chair just to meet her at the foot of the stairs. Akane growled at him as she glared at her antics, then she turned and headed into the kitchen and out the back door. This led into another section of the property that Ranma didn't visit much, the alley way between them and the neighbors next door.   
  
It was full of trash cans, bags of grass, trash, and various other kinds of things she really didn't want to know about. Akane stomped her way about half way down the alley and turned to point to the side window of her room that Ranma was always looking into as she hung from the roof. "Look in there BAKA, I don't want you to be in denial anymore."  
  
Something about was making her apprehensive, but Ranma had never been one to listen to her innermost feelings, so she jumped to the roof of the house. Padding silently across the roof tiles and hung off the edge so that she could look inside the room like she had done on hundreds of occasions. At first she couldn't see anything because all the lights were off in the room.   
  
Then she placed her ear to the glass and noticed that she was hearing some odd noises at the very edge of her hearing...and gasped as images started to flash through her mind, memories that she had been suppressed out of shock and fear, returned in a rush and hit him...well like Akane's hammer as it impacted her skull.   
  
Akane and Ryoga had been making out, their heavy breathing and whispered endearments had been as clear as day and Ranma had heard every word and whisper they made, saw every movement of their hands and bodies. It was to much for Ranma to handle a second time and she fell off the roof and landed in the much below, tears running down her face. She remembered it all, all the little clues he had missed and the times Akane had taken Ryoga's side over hers and never once listened to her side of the story. Ranma sobbed as the intense pain returned and remembered several hours later when his own father had attacked him in the middle of the night and used Shampoo's memory erasing technique on him.   
  
While Soun did the same with everyone else in the house, a heart broken Ranma was a little hard to miss after all, so that things could go back to normal. It was easy enough to get rid of Ryoga, all they had to do was point him in a random direction and send him on his way so they could talk after they had worked the technique on the Lost Boy as well.  
  
They had told her that the schools would be united, no matter the cost, Genma had said that they would do this as many times as they needed to as well. It had been a blow to her fragile mind and her father had made doubly sure that this incident wasn't remembered or it would ruin all their hopes and dreams. Curled into a ball, Ranma realized that this had happened some 8 month ago, just 2 months after the failed wedding.   
  
Akane had heard him fall, looked out the window with Ryoga and they had laughed at his pain, ridiculed him and his manliness. Ranma had been broken and tossed away, but no matter what he couldn't bring himself to hate Akane. Ryoga on the other hand had then proclaimed his victory by kissing Akane right in front of him and she hadn't complained in the least.  
  
Akane stomped up to him and kicked her in the stomach hard enough to launch her against the house. "BAKA!! Wake up and smell what has been dealt to you by your idiot father, total shit! You know what you need to do if you ever want to have peace in your life, restore all our memories! Everyone in the family, Nibiki, Kasumi, and even Ryoga! I want my boyfriend back!"  
  
Ranma wiped the tears away and stood up as a red hazed settled over her eyes, she glared at Akane and stepped up to her, and punched her in the jaw so hard that her entire body fractured into a million pieces! The sound of a shattered heart, the death of all hope crashed all across the yard.   
  
Tempered by Ranma's anger and grief, he had a flash back of his entire life and saw the truth played out over again, his self denial and all the lies that had colored his thinking. He remembered the recent fight he had with...he couldn't call him father anymore...Genma. He realized that everything he had experienced over the last few months had been a way for that man to control his life.  
  
Looking up from her self pity, Ranma noticed that he was male again and that he was back in that foggy region again, but this time there was a wall in front of him. It was bigger than anything he had ever seen and stretched as far and high as he could see. He jumped back instinctively as he saw some movement out of the corner of his eye and barely dodged a wave of silver crackling energy as it traveled along the wall rumbling like thunder.   
  
As it passed by he gasped at the incredible amount of power he was feeling, it dwarfed his puny strength and made him feel like a bug in comparison. He had never encountered anything like it before. Even Cologne would have cowered before this kind power. He could only stand there and gape in awe as it race away from him and disappeared in the distance.  
  
"It's beautiful isn't it?"  
  
Ranma looked over his shoulder and saw that version of himself from before that had argued with Akane, the one dressed in the black silk with silver studs, the Dark Ranma. "You were the one from before that was arguing with A-Akane?"  
  
"Yep, the bitch, she deserved to have that done to her." Dark Ranma said with an evil grin.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"When you hit her, you destroyed what was left of the love you felt for her. As it shattered you were purged of the love you had been feeling towards her for the last few months. I would have ripped her spine out for what she did, but you're the one running the show here so it was up to you how you did it. Pretty cool, huh?"  
  
"Oh?" He felt numb as he look inside himself and found that nothing at all remained of his feelings for Akane, absolutely nothing but a desire to strike her down again. He searched deeper and noticed that he still had love in his heart, but it was small and intense, as if he had caged it off. He couldn't tell who it was for though, it was if that was also hidden in the cage, there was a female form but he couldn't tell who it was. It was too small to tell.  
  
"Look before you Ranma, do you know what this is?" His duplicate yelled and gestured grandly and laughed loudly. "This whole area is more than it seems, it has been here for as long as you've been alive and you've never seen it before!"  
  
Turning back to the wall Ranma did indeed take a closer look, he stepped up to the wall and studied it in more detail. After a few seconds he noticed that it was covered in very tiny hairline fractures that could be seen for as far as he could see. It was like what Ryoga described when he used the Breaking Point technique, very tiny fractures that one could force Ki into and make them explode. He slowly reached out to touch it and...  
  
"I wouldn't do that." Dark Ranma said with a smirk.  
  
...screamed as pain ripped through him. Ranma was thrown back nearly a hundred feet and skidded to a halt with his shoulder buried in the ground. He opened his eyes and coughed painfully and sat up using his Ki to augment his body and reduced the damage done to his body. Blood dripped down his hand from where he'd touched the wall, the pain was unbelievable and he could tell that one of his fingers was shattered. Any worse than it was and he would have lost it's use for the rest of his life, but luckily his Ki abilities allowed him to shrug off damage like that and bounce back for more.  
  
"That wall is very large memory block Ranma, beyond that is everything you have ever wanted to hide from, all your painful memories, your fears, you hopes and dreams, and more things than you could ever imagine."  
  
"Memories?"  
  
"Yep, and if you want to ever gain control of your life you are going to have to burst through this block and reclaim that which was sealed away from you."  
  
"How do you expect me to break through this, the power needed would be unbelievable and out of my range. I'm strong, but even I know when not to try and lift a mountain."  
  
"Wimp." Dark Ranma smirked.  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Yep, I could break this easily."  
  
Ranma scowled and looked at the wall again, he wouldn't be ridiculed, he was Ranma Saotome and he was the best. "Well then I'll do it."  
  
"BAH!! This will take far more power than you have and then some. I don't think even you have a hundredth of the power level needed to break that. It takes something special to break a memory block Ranma. Not brute strength or the pitiful amount of power you have available." Dark Ranma laughed at him, it was even more frightening then Kodachi's evil wail.  
  
"Oh Yeah!" Ranma screamed, his anger rising exponentially. He suddenly exploded in power, brought his hands forward and fired off everything he had available.  
  
"Sucker!" Dark Ranma cackled some more and vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
Ranma twitched and cursed himself for a fool even as his blast hit the wall and shattered it like a brittle piece of cardboard. The blast hit something on the other side and he suddenly found himself at ground zero of a blast that rivaled Hiroshima and Nagasaki in shear size. Ranma screamed as the blast washed over him and he vanished in a flare of super heated fire and death. He noted the lack of pain as the clothing was burned from his body and then started on his skin.  
  
Then all went dark and the memories began...  
  
*********  
  
Dr. Tofu was pulling himself out of the rubble of his office when he heard Ranma start to scream as if all the wraiths of hell were following him. It was not a sound that could be ignored and he ran out of the clinic and to where Ranma had landed in the back yard. The boy started to glow before he could get to him and his aura burst forth in an explosion of power and disintegrated his clothing in a matter of seconds. Tofu skidded to a halt and gaped in awe, he had never seen a reaction like this before and Ranma was one of his weirdest patients of late.  
  
He had heard the boy was powerful, but he had never envisioned anything like this! It was like he was living Ki battery with infinite potential and power. Something was wrong though, he could feel it in the air as it pulsed with Ranma's full power. His aura was turning black instead of its normal blue of confidence.  
  
Rushing forward he called up his own aura and used his healers knowledge to twine his aura into Ranma's, he only had a basic idea of what was happening, but that was enough to know he needed to stop it. Their aura's merged and Tofu started concentrate and all he knew about forcing another's aura to submit to his own, sweat started to run down his face as his forced merging was able to make Ranma's power back off so that he get his hands through the powerful aura.   
  
He quickly started to tap pressure points in a mad attempted to save the boy from killing himself with his own power. Tofu had never seen anything like this, but his masters had and they had described what they had done at those times something like this had happened. He needed to calm Ranma down and alter the flow of Ki in the boy's body while he battled what ever was affecting him.  
  
Minutes turned into what seemed to be hours and Tofu continued to work franticly rearranging the very flow of Ki Power within the boy. After 20 minutes of nervous work he noticed that the black in his aura was fluctuating wildly and a hint of Ranma's pure blue aura was present once again. Tofu continued to work until he finally hit the last dozen pressure points and collapsed into unconsciousness, his strength completely spent from holding Ranma's aura at bay.  
  
*********  
  
Sailor Mars was running as fast as she could and she was still hit by the attack of the monster that was chasing her. She was thrown across the street and impacted against a wall hard enough to make it crack, she cried out in pain and shock as she flopped to the ground. Her vision was blurry, but she could just make out the asphalt like monster as it took out Jupiter and tossed her around like a rag doll.  
  
With one final blow it just dropped her on top of Moon and Mercury and stepped back. Growling in feral anger she staggered to her feet and screamed in anger. Her Princess was in danger and if she didn't do anything they were all going to die, that would not happen while she was still breathing.  
  
Running forward she crouched down and slammed her wrists together, reached deep within her soul, and opened her palms even as everything around her went blood red. "ETERNAL FIRES OF HEAVEN!" Fire the likes of which hadn't been seen in 10,000 years exploded out of her and hit the monster dead on.   
  
The ground around her melted and monster didn't even have time to scream as good portion of it was flash vaporized in a mater of microseconds. Spent, Mars staggered out of the molten ground around her without being affected by the liquid like rock and fell over in shock as the monster, though horribly disfigured proved strong enough to withstand her strongest attack. It grinned evilly at her and stomped its way over towards her with ever intention of killing her.  
  
"WORLD SHAKING"  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE"  
  
"SILENCE WALL"  
  
Uranus and Neptune's attacks streaked in and slammed into the monster to hurl it back and away from Mars as she struggled to stand up again. Saturn's wall protected Mars, but as she looked into the fire that was raging nearby her vision faded and gasped as she saw images within the fire. It started out as the last one had, with Amy Lee killing the Inner Scouts, but it changed completely a few seconds in.   
  
Instead of Amy Lee it changed to a man as he gloried in their death, then a dog, then Zoicite, then Queen Serenity, and then...over and over it changed into different people that she had encountered over the years. She saw friends, enemies, strangers, monsters, all of then in the process of killing them and laughing evilly. Through it all she heard that laughter echoing in her mind and she realized that she had been used by some power.  
  
That girl wasn't their enemy, just as Usagi had insisted from the start. Tears slipped own her cheeks as all went black. How could she have misjudged the situation so much that she made a mistake like that?  
  
Saturn held the wall and wondered it she should join the battle, her instincts were telling her to drop the shield and toss out a Silence Glaive Surprise. She resisted, knowing that even her weakest attack was far to strong to use on this crowded street, her attack was a last resort to be used only after all the others had been taken out or killed.   
  
She stood over Mars and waited for her friends to die, they were outmatched and out powered by these strange monsters. Still, there was enough hope left with her guardians fighting that she could afford to wait until the end. Uranus and Neptune had more power than all the Inners combined, they would win.  
  
She recalled that from the meetings they'd had with the Inners, they were facing a smarter than normal enemy. One that worked differently than all the others, one that worked together like a team and knew how to use their powers to the fullest without any frivolous wastes of energy. Saturn winced as Neptune fired off another attack that was dodged by the monster as it actually rolled under the blast and backhanded the Scout. Neptune was hurled into the hood of a nearby car. She struggled for several seconds before she passed out with a curse.  
  
Uranus watched this and screamed in rage as her love was knocked out, then pulled her sword and leapt forward, yelling out "SPACE SWORD BLASTER". The huge attack didn't hit the monster. Instead it hit the ground beneath it and forced it to move further down the street. Saturn dropped the shield as she decided that it was far enough away from the Inners that she could attack it, and jumped to the top of a nearby 2 story building.   
  
She brought the Glaive to bear and raised the blade above her head as it began to glow with energy. A massive out pouring of power launched out and slammed into the monster and smiled in satisfaction as it was ripped apart by the sheer strength of the attack, as was the street, the building across the street, and most of the ground for the 20 or 30 feet below the monster. She was glad she hadn't had to use the full strength of the blast or half the city may have been destroyed. It wasn't like she could just go out and practice her control like the others could.  
  
Saturn jumped own off the building and ran over to Uranus as the Scout fell to her knees, she looked utterly drained of energy. Her Fuku was ripped to shreds and there was blood running down her stomach where most of her ribs looked to be broken. She fell over just as Saturn reached her and spent a few minutes healing her life threatening wounds. Moon and Mercury were next, followed by Mars, Jupiter, and finally Neptune who was just unconscious. Saturn collapsed as soon as she was done and lost her Saturn transformation, reverting to...Hotaru.  
  
The rest of the Scouts limped home after thanking the Outers for helping them, Saturn done all she could to get them back on their feet, but was unable to make then perfectly healthy. They agreed meet at the shrine the following afternoon and discuss this development.   
  
Mars kept silent on what she had seen and decided to wait until the meeting to tell the others what she had seen, she wanted to see if she could find out how much damage she had really done by casting another fire reading when she had rested a little. Everyone else went their separate ways and failed to notice just who had been watching the battle while their backs were turned.  
  
Sailor Pluto frowned at the girls as she peeked around the corner of a building and stepped back through the Time Gate, something was out of place and she was worried. That fight was a lot harder than it should have been. She failed to spot the blurred shadow that was watching the fight from the top of a nearby building or as it vanished as silently as she had. No one commented on all the destruction left by the battle, the destroyed street, the crushed cars, and the raging fires that would keep the Fire Department busy for several hours.  
  
*********  
  
Ranma stood up from where he had been crouching and looked around, he was standing in a ruin of some kind, there were toppled marble columns and broken down buildings all around him, almost all of it was buried in gray rock of some kind. It was oppressively silent, as if sound couldn't mar the area that had survived so much damage. Then he looked up into the sky and gaped at the night sky in wonder, why all the stars were so visible, they twinkled brightly and filled him with wonder at the millions of them visible to the naked eye. It was almost as if he were to reach out he could touch them, they filled him with a sense of wonder and awe.  
  
"Their beautiful aren't they?" A quiet voice said.  
  
Looking to the side, Ranma blinked a couple of times as he noted a silver haired, foot tall fairy, floating beside him, she was stunning, wearing a see through white gown that accentuated her curves and had a pair of wings on her back. Her hair was done up in a style similar to Sailor Moon's except that it was silver and she had a tiny gold crescent moon on her forehead. "Wha...?"  
  
"Of all those I sent forward, I never expected you to awaken my old friend." The fairy said sadly. "You wanted a normal life and asked Pluto to make sure you grew up in a happy home and a normal life."  
  
Ranma snorted at that, his life had been anything but normal. "I don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't even begin to describe my life, little fairy." Ranma mumbled out, totally confused.   
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"My life is a living hell, I have almost no friends, girls chasing me as if I was a prize to show off to everyone else, friends who want to kill me for the slightest mistakes, and a mother who will kill me if I ain't manly enough. Hell my curse highlights that subject every time it's activated." Ranma snarled out, his emotional state pushed far beyond what it normally was.  
  
"...will you let me read your memories, I need to see if you can be reawakened."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"This is a kind of dream memory, if I can not awaken you to your old memories there is a chance that you will either die or be turned to the enemy's side like one of my friends has already." The fairy said sadly.  
  
"Read my memories, I-I don't k-know..."  
  
"I promise I won't harm you in any way, I just need to see what had been done to you and to remove the final mental blocks on your hidden memories."  
  
"There are more?"  
  
"Yes, there are 3 levels of blocks that I placed on everyone that was sent forward. They were there to keep you from having multiple personalities."  
  
"I don't understand." Ranma said shrugged.   
  
The fairy giggled and nodded, "I know you don't Ranma, will you let me do what is needed?"  
  
Ranma shrugged. "Go ahead and do it, I am not afraid to die."  
  
The fairy nodded and her little gold crescent moon flared and fired a beam of light right into Ranma's head. It was over in a matter of seconds and he staggered as memories of a life long ago rushed into his mind, loves, friends, obsessions, betrayals, lovers, and most importantly, the fact that he was once a female for real. He staggered back and fell down in total shock.  
  
"How can I have once been female?" Ranma muttered, for some reason it kind of explained his cursed form. The rebirth hadn't really changed him all that much, just made him male instead of female, he wondered if Pluto had done this to him for some reason. Ranma suddenly realized that what Amy had said was true, he used his curse as an excuse for his problems and tried to deny what he knew to be true.  
  
"Ranma, you were a special soldier in my kingdom Ranma, a Guardian Knight. It was your job to protect one of the Sailor Scouts from harm while they were in battle, kind of like a bodyguard."  
  
"Sailor Scouts, like the ones that Amy has been trying to get revenge against?"  
  
"Yes, the very same. You'll notice that even when you found out what she had planned your first impulse was to lesson the damage against the Scouts so that they weren't hurt in anyway. You were doing your duty even when you had no memory of it. Your life has been very...unpleasant for you and I can't understand what went wrong. Why did Pluto allow this to happen, she has never failed before."  
  
"Your Highness, Queen Serenity.." Ranma said as he remembered her name." Pluto has always placed the welfare of the many above that of the few. Remember what she once did to my uncle, Tranquility's son."  
  
"She wouldn't do that again!"  
  
"Pluto will lie if it is necessary my Queen, she has always done so.  
  
She has always been a pain in my side, I remember that."  
  
"..."  
  
"What do you want me to do with the Scouts, Serenity?"  
  
"Protect them, they are facing an enemy that is way beyond anything they have ever faced before, they need help and there is only a little time left to help them before it will to late to save them. Even now they have just faced a powerful Youma and barely made it out alive, my daughter is there, alone, with but one of the Inner Guard."  
  
"Then let me go to them, I will help." Ranma said, in the mood for a fight.  
  
"It will be over by the time you arrive, contact your friend Amy and have her help you with the next battle. I can sense that she is far more than she tells others, she will be able to help you the most."  
  
"I don't know if she will..."  
  
"I have tried to correct that problem even as we speak, Mars will receive another vision with more details on the problem, it's as close to the truth as I am allowed to get without violating certain rules."  
  
"Thank you." Ranma said quietly.  
  
"I did what I have always done my old friend, helped those who needed it and after reading your mind I had to do something for you as well. Your Silver Millennium memories were far more happy and loving than anything you ever experienced in the last 13 years. Use them to help you see things differently, do not dwell on the fact that you were once female, it doesn't matter in this life time."  
  
"Who would have though that I would have been an even bigger tomboy than Akane, Huh?" Ranma laughed.  
  
"I can't stay very much longer my old friend."  
  
"Will I see you again?"  
  
"I doubt that, I can only do this once for everyone that I revive. I'll miss you."  
  
"Hey now, no mushy stuff." Ranma said crossly, failing to hide his grin at finally finding the missing piece of his soul. The part he hadn't known he was missing until it was returned to him along with almost 42 years worth of memories added to his own...boy was everyone going to be in for a surprise when he woke up again...  
  
**********  
  
His eyes snapped open and Ranma sat up slowly, every square inch of his body ached as it shouted in pain and told him that moving wasn't a very good idea right now. He noted that he was still in the clinic. He saw that Amy was out cold on a nearby bed and covered in a light blanket. Dr. Tofu was asleep as well stretched out on a bed on the other side of the room. Then the door to the room opened and Kasumi walked in with a small cart with some drinks on it, she spotted him sitting up and smiled.  
  
"Good morning Ranma."  
  
"Morin Kasumi."  
  
"How are you feeling?"  
  
"Actually, I feel pretty good. I'm really hungry though and that food looks really good."  
  
"I'll bring you some if you want me to. I'll have it ready in about an hour or so. Would you like to have something to drink?"  
  
"Thank you Kasumi I would like that. Can you tell me what happened while I was out?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"How long was I out? Where are Akane, my pop and yours, Ryoga, and why am I naked under this blanket?"  
  
"Lets see now, about 36 hours, all but Ryoga are at the house, Ryoga was last seen heading for the bathroom about 10 hours ago. As for your clothing, it was destroyed in the attack you barely survived. I found you and Dr. Tofu in the back yard yesterday, passed out in the back yard.   
  
You seemed to glow at the time and had done a bit of damage to the yard, I think Dr. Tofu was trying to help you or stop. I called everyone over and we helped you inside and into bed." Kasumi said and blushed as usual Ranma missed it completely.  
  
"Thank you Kasumi, if I could have my pants and a shirt I will more than happy to leave this bed."  
  
Kasumi nodded as she quickly left the room, but she was back a few minutes later and handed him some of his normal clothing. After she left, Ranma got dressed and went to check on Amy, she was snoring lightly and had a little drool hanging off her lip. Ranma almost burst out laughing at the sight, but couldn't suppress a snort as he turned away.   
  
Amy was sprawled out across the bed, her jacket and pants had been removed and dropped at the edge of the bed. This left her in a simple black t-shirt and red panties that hugged her body quite nicely. Ranma stared at her for several minutes before he realized what he was doing, looked around nervously to make sure no one had noticed and backed out of the room.  
  
His thoughts drifted through his mind as he made his way through the clinic and took note of the extensive damage that had occurred throughout the entire building. He headed out front and saw the crater from the initial blast, then wandered around back and looked over the damage he had caused while out cold and wondered how he had achieved so much damage or even survived in the first place.   
  
He sure as hell didn't fell like he had just come close to dieing, instead he felt like he was in perfect health. With the return of his memories from an entire life time, he had a pretty good idea what had happened, but couldn't understand why Pluto would attack him like that.  
  
There was no way anyone could have known he was one of the elite Guardian Knights except Pluto and all evidence suggested that she had ignored him in favor of other more important things. Sure someone may have been able to track his energy surges, but as far as he knew he had never used any of his magical abilities to augment his strength...then he remembered Saffron.   
  
Ranma cursed out loud as he remembered. Of course it had to have been while he was fighting that fucker. After every attack and counter attack he had felt his power growing in tune to his will power, he'd had no choice but to win, Akane's life had depended on it.  
  
Then he frowned as her name made him remember something he didn't want to, Akane...and Ryoga, he had to take care of that little mess. His memories had been unsealed by Pluto's blast and this had awakened him to the truth about himself. Then he smirked and remembered that night a few weeks after his asshole father had used that cursed memory attack on him.   
  
When he and Akane had decided to call things off for a while and see if they could be friends before they tried to marry again. She had agreed to not hit him as much and he had promised not to call her so many names. They had gotten along fairly well, until Amy Lee had shown up and beat the crap out of Akane and shown her how to access her Ki on a new level.  
  
The sparring sessions against Amy and Akane were brutal, almost as bad as what his pop had done to him, almost. Amy knew how to push Akane's buttons and make her angry enough to produce a battle aura of amazing strength. Amy had been training her on the sly for several days now, ever since Akane had started to try and avoid her in fact. Catching her in the bathroom or dojo and attacking her in compromising places.   
  
Ranma had to admit Akane was getting better and quicker with each passing day, she already had the basic principles down and could produce anger Ki on demand and use it for several minutes before she tired out. At the same time her anger control was producing some amazing results. Amy had explained it as something Akane needed, whether she wanted it or not.  
  
Akane and Ryoga, they had chosen each other, over him, ridiculed him and taunted him with it until all his feelings had simply ceased to exist. He had been asked to restore their memories to what they were before any of this mess happened, and he had every intention of doing so. Akane deserved to be happy, even if he wasn't the one that could to the job anymore. Then he had his own revenge to attend to, Ranma held out his hand and concentrated, a brilliant silver and white Katana appeared in his hand.   
  
It was beautiful to look at and he could feel its hidden power just waiting to be released, it was like the Silence Glaive in a lot of ways. It was a magic amplifier and could be used to cause massive amounts of damage, just not on the same scale as the Scout of Death. It was a very rare item for anyone to earn one of these items. It had taken her years of hardship, training, and sacrifices to earn one.  
  
These weapons were only made for the best of the best, when he had been female, he had been the first of his generation to ever earn one in over fifty years. It took dedication and binding oaths that could transcend death for him to gain its power and he planned on using it. Ranma smiled, this was his own power item, something that was thought that only the Scouts could possess.   
  
He had proven them all wrong by earning it in the way he had. Sure weapons were a crutch in a battle, but this weapon was perfect for what he would need it for. Revenge was something he had never considered, but he found that he actually wanted to hurt his father, castrate the bastard for ruining his life, but he wouldn't go to far.   
  
"Ranma, are you all right?" Kasumi called.  
  
"I am more than alright Kasumi, I am whole once again." Ranma said.  
  
"That's good news Ranma. I should have something ready to eat in a few minutes."  
  
"Already?"  
  
"You have been out here for over 40 minutes."  
  
Ranma grinned and nodded as he spun the sword and it vanished from sight, Kasumi didn't even blink. Heading inside the clinic once again Ranma followed Kasumi to the kitchen and helped her to finish preparing the meal. Kasumi was a bit startled, but just smiled and nodded when Ranma started to show off his cooking skills. It was only a matter of time before they soon had enough fixed up to feed 10 people. Ranma ate it all too :-)  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	10. Strange Days09 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 09  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
The old man sat behind his desk and didn't look up as Zepher. He never looked up when he was mad. He gestured to a spot in front of his desk and Zepher and Black Razor appeared in a burst of black smoke. They appeared to be nervous and sweating profusely, but they weren't scared, they were here to do a job and fear didn't enter into the plan, at least which is what they told themselves.  
  
"Zepher?"  
  
"Master?"  
  
"Why isn't Pluto dead or under our control?"  
  
"I don't know master, I sent the host to her and it bonded to her as it was supposed to do, but..."  
  
"But..."  
  
"I lost contact with it when it merged with Pluto. I have since failed to contact it, and, um...Pluto has been acting very weird."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"It is hard to explain sir, it is like she has been turned to our side like we had hoped, but she is still trying to do her duty to the Queen. She is becoming deranged and unpredictable enough that it is impossible to understand what is going on with her, I have no idea why this is happening."  
  
"I see."  
  
Zepher started to tremble. He had never heard that tone in his Master's voice. It was colder than ice and he somehow knew that he was just one step away from being killed. He was soldier and he knew that he was expendable in favor of the plan...he was in deep shit. "S-sir?"  
  
The old man took out another form and began to fill it out as he seemed to think. "Black Razor, I am handing the plan over to you for now. Do not fail me or you will be killed, do you understand?"  
  
"Yes sir." She answered, mentally sighing in relief.  
  
"Razor you are dismissed, I want at least one or two of the Scouts out of commission by the end of the week."  
  
"Easy enough." Razor bowed and vanished.  
  
"Master?" Zepher asked hesitantly.  
  
"Zepher, you are beginning to make mistakes. You have never been this sloppy, what is going on?"  
  
"There are to many unpredictable variables sir. In this last fight I sent out a prototype Youma that was pretty much immune to all the Scouts attacks. It was going well until Mars was nearly beat to death, she did something, I don't know what it was sir, but she managed to fire off an attack that was 100 times more powerful than anything she has ever used before. The force of the attack severely damaged the Youma's protective armor and allowed the Outer Scouts to finally finish it off several minutes later."  
  
"There have been several attacks on this planet already Zepher and each has been repulsed by the Scouts. You did take this into account?"  
  
"Of course sir, I planned on a possible 20 to 30% increase in strength from the scouts as the fights continued, it was predicted that Sailor Moon would achieve her Galactic transformation during the battles."   
  
"...and..."  
  
"The Scouts achieved their Super forms even before Galaxia showed up, these are supposed to be the highest form they can achieve so higher forms were not taken into account. All information points to them attaining anything higher as impossibility, sir."  
  
"Alright I will accept that for now, the perfect plan rarely ever survives contact with the enemy anyhow. Now on to other business, how is that other project coming?"  
  
"It's finished sir. We have collected enough life energy to contact Him  
  
sir."  
  
"Excellent. Proceed with the second phase of the plan."  
  
"Yes sir." Zepher vanished in a puff of smoke.  
  
The old man looked up and grinned evilly as he sat back in his chair and laughed. It echoed off the unseen ceiling as he stood up, stretched, and took his glasses off. Red demonic eyes washed out over the dark chamber and he too vanished, in a burst of black lightning. This was going to be easier than he thought it would and it was all because of Amy Lee, it was too perfect.  
  
*********  
  
Amy was concentrating as she hovered a couple inches above the ground in a one legged crane stance. She had one leg lifted, the other extended downward with her toes pointed straight down. There was a visible aura of power humming around her as she hovered over a single spot.   
  
She had been this way for 2 hours now. She had her hands by her waist and was cupping a small ball of colored Ki in each hand that shone brighter than most stars, blue in the left hand and green in her right, every few seconds it would pulse and send out a bright flash of light.  
  
Watching from the roof, Ranma had been paying close attention to his new friend ever since she crawled out of bed the week before. She had dragged herself to the kitchen and tiredly made herself a huge breakfast that she wouldn't share with him. It had been 4am when she did it and she had finished off enough food to give even him pause.   
  
She had then gone back to bed, slept the whole day, and gotten up at the following day and looked as if nothing had ever happened to her, even her hair looked like it was perfectly normal. Ranma knew better, he could feel it in her Ki, she was different now, more focused and deadly than ever before.  
  
In a lot of ways it reminded him of the new technique his father had shown him a few weeks before, 'The Ascension of the Dragon God'. He had been adding it's complicated forms into his fighting style over the last few weeks whenever he was alone and had time teach himself and improve upon what he had been shown.   
  
Amy had also explained why the technique type was so dangerous, it super charged the body and allowed it to channel massive amounts of Ki from everything around him. Earth was so full of life that he could power up to incredible levels of power through practice.   
  
Still, there were draw backs to the technique. The kinds of things that made Cologne fear the technique. If one used it too often or tried to use to much energy, they could actually burn themselves out or kill themselves in a massive explosion.  
  
The human body easily adapted to the power according to Amy, but it was like body hardening techniques, he had to build up his resistance slowly. Amy knew of the breaking point technique and told him to learn it since it would help him immensely, the stronger his body the more energy it could channel. In keeping with his promise to Cologne, he had told her he was going to learn the trick and had her show him how a few days ago.   
  
He picked it up in about 9 hours, Akane's Mallet had finally come in handy for something it had seemed, and Cologne had nearly fainted from shock, Ranma thought it was a bit simple to do. It seemed the average time for a 'male' to learn the technique was 3 weeks of broken bones and massive bodily damage. Women usually took a week because they trained harder than men. Ranma had snorted and asked how many of her tribe had survived a ten year training trip with his old man.   
  
Ranma also had to laugh at their reaction. After all she didn't know that he had been given over 40 years of memories while he was unconscious at Tofu's place. 40 years of combat training, schooling, and best of all, Magic training under some of the strongest Mages of the Moon Kingdom. His body had adapted over that last few weeks as he came to terms with his new skills and trained in their use. This had affected him in a number of ways that he hadn't quite gotten over yet, he had been a...girl...no a woman in one of his past lives. She had been an experienced fighter, deadly martial artist, a war wizard of some skill, and something that made Ranma blush. She had been a Mother, over 4 times, and a bit of a pervert that liked to flirt.  
  
These memories had been something he didn't want to think about, but his dreams were filled with her feelings and thoughts as they wound their way though his now male being. His innocence had been obliterated that first night as he remembered not one but 2 honeymoon nights filled with sex, sex, and even more fantastic SEX. Ranma shuddered, for some reason he just couldn't forget them.   
  
There were other things though that he was grateful for and wouldn't give them up without a fight, the experience of hundreds of battles, over 20 different styles of Martial Arts that had been lost for centuries, and his increased knowledge of the female body. All he had to do was train the skills into this current body and with how easily he learned things he was well on his way to having most of them down by now. Though he still had a long way to go before he mastered them again, but he had time so it didn't matter all that much.  
  
He lifted his hand and held it out before him and concentrated, chanting under his breath in a language lost to time long ago. A pink light flared around his hand and small ball of light formed and hovered there. The magic he had remembered and a good portion of it wasn't all that useful, but there were a few spells available that could be used in combat.   
  
Most of it would have been used only in a life or death situation though since the spells would kill most anything he used them against. He wouldn't be able to break his curse since his knowledge was limited to combat situations or minor stuff, but he really didn't mind much anymore, he had accepted his curse with the return of his memories as a natural part of himself. Ranma felt the Ki in the air shift and turned to watch as Amy powered down and landed softly.   
  
She was an enigma (he had remembered his schooling too) that had proven to him that she didn't care what form he was in because she liked him and had encountered things in her life far more alarming than his curse.  
  
Ranma jumped down off the roof of the clinic and waved at Amy, she smiled and waved back. "Are you done?" He asked.  
  
"For now, I need to find a challenge soon or my skills are going to deteriorate. I used to have access to a small valley uninhabited valley back home that I had protected by powerful magic spells. They kept it from being leveled and destroyed while I practiced. It took months to set them up so that any battles fought there could take place without to much worry. Now that I'm stuck here I have to find something else to with."  
  
Ranma shrugged. "I don't know about you but, I could do with some food."  
  
"Always thinking with your stomach I see." Amy said with a grin.  
  
"A true martial artist must always keep up their strength." Ranma said, imitating Genma's voice.  
  
Amy giggled, "True, lets go over to that American place."  
  
"Sure."  
  
They walked off the clinic property and headed out, both of them thinking about ways to help the Doctor get the place repaired. Ranma also noticed that he was a little nervous as he walked with Amy and didn't want to access his past life memories to find out why. He knew he wouldn't like the answer. He had found himself drawn to Amy lately, in ways that scared and intrigued him, the way her hips moved when she walked to the way her hair smelled. It was getting a bit embarrassing really and he wanted to stop before she noticed his interest.   
  
"Ranma...?" Amy asked.  
  
Ranma just walked on as if he hadn't heard her.  
  
"Earth to Ranma! HELLO!?"  
  
They continued along in silence for several minutes with Amy trying to catch his attention. Then she snorted, pivoted, and punched him right in the jaw, sending him into a nearby wall.  
  
"What the hell did you do that for?" He gasped as he pulled himself to his feet and glared at her.  
  
"For being so quiet and ignoring me, just like a man with his head in the clouds." Amy stated calmly, snickered, and burst out laughing. "I wanted to ask you some questions, but you were practically zoning me out and wouldn't even respond to me when ever I tried to ask you a question."  
  
"Oh." Ranma said and shook some of the dust out of his hair.  
  
"Will you answer some questions?"  
  
"Sure, I guess."  
  
"That was eloquent. Okay, what happened to you when you were hit by that blast?"  
  
"Um...I don't want to talk about it..."  
  
"Come on Ranma, you've changed, your aura is nearly 50 times more powerful now and you're trying to hide it, badly I might add. You used to move like a powerful animal on the verge of attacking. Now you're even more fluid and you are also emitting an sphere of magical power that you never had before, where did you pick all this up? What happened to you?"  
  
"You can tell all that?"  
  
"I am trained to notice things like this." Amy said smugly.  
  
"Sheesh, alright I'll tell you, while I was out cold and stuck in that bed, something decided that I needed to have some memories back. It also released several things from my life that I had blocked out over the years, these memories came back..."  
  
"That's not all, no one gains a magic aura over night Ranma."  
  
"...I also had all the memories of a past life come back to me, from a time when I was a warrior, a war mage, and a...woman." Ranma said quietly and blushed.  
  
"Oh ho! I should have expected something like this." Amy crowed and laughed.  
  
"What!?" Ranma gasped.  
  
"This is another dimension for me, remember, I have encountered things like this before while performing some of my past missions. At first I thought things were mainly revolving around you and those who knew you, but then I found the Sailor Scouts. If I recall things right, the few times I have encountered two such groups like this and with such powerful destinies backing them up while in the same dimension, they have almost always been connected to each other in one form or another."  
  
"Oh?" That would explain a few things, Ranma thought.  
  
"Yep, now that I think about it, I am almost surprised you're not running around in one of those cute little numbers the Scouts wear, after all you are absolutely adorable as a girl and a powerful fighter."  
  
Ranma shuddered as he visualized herself in one of those...Hopposai Specials.  
  
"What was that for?"  
  
"Just thinking of Hopposai."  
  
Amy giggled and nodded that she understood, then pointed at their destination in the distance. Then they stopped when they noticed the smoke rising into the air, the eatery was engulfed in flames. They also noticed that there were a number of girls wearing 'Hopposai Specials' running around in front of the building. Amy sighed and crossed her arms, and gaining Ranma's attention.  
  
"Well if that isn't convenient." Amy muttered.  
  
"No kidding, it looks like I get to show you something else that I learned to do."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Like them, I was reborn as a magic warrior and was given the ability to transform."  
  
Amy sighed again. "See what I mean about the two destinies crossing over with each other?"  
  
Ranma smiled and shrugged. He held out his hand and a beautiful sword appeared in his hand. He looked around, stepped into a nearby alley, and held the sword high. "GUARDIAN KNIGHT GALACTIC POWER!" Ranma cried out, his voice amplified by the magic flowing into his body. His blue aura surged around him and flared to incredible levels as the wind picked up and lashed at his clothing. He suddenly burst out in a pure white light that filled the alley and nearly blinded Amy. As it died down, a female Ranma stood there floating above the ground, her sword pointing to the side and her whole body humming with power.   
  
She was wearing white leather armor with the symbol of the Moon Kingdom on the well formed breast plate, a short skirt with the skirt slit up the sides and showed off her great legs, they were covered in cream colored pantyhose. Amy also saw that she was wearing a pair of knee high white boot similar to Sailor Moons and Saturn's mixed together, and finally she had on a fluttering cape adorned with a large symbol of the moon on her back. Ranma-chan was giving off an impressive display of power as she stood there and Amy actually had to resist a sudden urge to run over and smother the stunning woman in kisses.  
  
"You're female."  
  
Ranma looked down as she landed lightly on her toes, smirking pettily. "Ah $&%#!" She cursed, then shrugged it off and came back over to Amy, shaking her head. "I'm not really surprised, I was female the last time I wore this get up and since I can turn female I guess the magic decided to make me use this form whenever I transformed. At least I don't have to worry about anyone recognizing me in this form, like the Scouts it has a disguise field. Only those who see me transform will know me."  
  
Amy nodded as she circled around Ranma and inspected her closely. It was a beautiful sight to the sex starved girl. "That wasn't bad actually. Guardian Knight, huh? If we are going to help them, I guess I need to have a costume too. Let me copy this one, except in red and black."  
  
"You can do that?"  
  
"Now that I have attuned myself to this dimension I have most of my more useful abilities back again and I don't have to worry about running out of power like did before." Amy said as she extended her left arm before her and Ranma saw that the blue crystal inset into the bracer was beginning to pulse and glow with power.   
  
It spread out across Amy's body and her clothing morphed into a pure red version of Ranma's uniform, there was black trim along every edge made to look like black fire. Her aura pulsed and Amy's hair suddenly lengthened down to her waist in a shower of red waves, her red eyes glowed and turned a bright green. Amy looked herself over, wiggled her hips in the revealing skirt and winked Ranma.  
  
Ranma bushed when she was caught looking at Amy's legs. "Um...sorry."  
  
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind in the least."   
  
"Well..."  
  
"Do you know all of your abilities as a Guardian Knight?"  
  
"No, there are some odd gaps in my memory for some reason, but I do know that this is level 3 of 5 transformations. That means that I have 2 more power ups beyond this. My 13 years of martial arts training is what allowed me to start out at this level. Well I think that's the reason." Ranma grinned sheepishly. "I am the best after all."  
  
"Lets go, Guardian Knight." Amy said and took off towards the battle by jumping to the roof of a nearby building. Ranma quickly followed, her eyes were drawn to Amy's legs again and she found herself unable to look away again. She decided to distract her thoughts by talking instead of looking.   
  
"Do you have any Idea of what we might encounter?"  
  
"I have fought several of these monsters so far, they are usually pretty strong, but against the Scouts especially. They seem to have been created to counter the Scout's powers, we should have the advantage of surprise since neither the bad guys or the Scouts will recognize us." Amy yelled out as they jumped across an alley, they could see the fight getting closer and closer.  
  
*********  
  
The Youma was close to 20ft tall and was made out of iron girders it had absorbed from a construction site a few blocks away. It had molded then into a humanoid shape, quite like a large iron golem. It seemed to have a kind of shadow warping ability as it could barely be seen while standing next to the building, only its yellow glowing eyes were visible and they seemed to promise death on a monumental scale.   
  
Sailor moon and Mercury were the first one's on the scene and led in with their attacks, even they knew when they did or didn't have time for a speech. Far to many monsters had used her speeches as an excuse to attack her while she was occupied.  
  
"MOON SPIRAL HEARTACHE THERAPY KISS" Sailor Moon called out and launched her attack. The giant pink heart careened into the Youma and exploded, it just blinked and scratched it's chest as if trying to understand what kind of threat a giant pink heart was.  
  
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY" Sailor Mercury yelled out milliseconds later and aimed at the monster's legs. They were encased in Ice by the time she was finished, but just as it was about to fall over it's huge shadow hands hammered down and shattered the ice as easily as breaking balsa wood. She had to dive for cover as large chunks of ice flew at the two of them. "Sailor Moon duck!"  
  
She gasped as she saw the ice flying towards her, dove to side and rolled out of the way and breathed a sigh of relief. Then gaped as she found herself in the path of the monsters descending foot as it tried to crush her, she hated the big ones, they were always a problem. She whimpered and covered her head as she caught the sight of Mercury scrambling to get to her. It was obvious that she would never make it in time.  
  
Sailor Moon was hit in the back, hard, and found that she was flying at Mercury, who caught her instinctively and looked at the scene before her in shock. They both saw a girl in white armor crouched at the feet of the giant foot. She had bright red hair and was glowing with a blue aura of power. Then she noticed that she had the symbol of the Moon Kingdom on her cape. Then they saw another red haired girl, she was wearing the exact same thing, except in red and etched in black flames. She was glowing with a blue aura of power as well and looked even more dangerous than the one in white.  
  
Setting Sailor Moon down, Sailor Mercury brought out her computer and scanned the two new girls. The girl in white was radiating Moon Kingdom energy like a miniature sun, on par with the Silver Crystal. The girl in red wasn't even registering properly, the scans kept bouncing off her. Sailor Moon drug herself to her feet and scowled at the two girls that had saved her. One of them had kicked her in the back and it hurt!  
  
The two girls were running around the monsters feet, each doing a different kind of attack. White moved like a cat and was suddenly hopping up the things body, landed on its arm and ran along this. She pulled out a sword and swung in an arch a few feet from the head. "KNIGHT SLATHER HERALD!" It burst into flames and a wave of white fire shaped like a crescent moon leaped out to strike the monster's head. The impact was devastating as it sliced the Youma's head almost in half, the girl flipped off the things shoulder and yelled for her partner to fire.  
  
"NOW!"  
  
The one in red placed herself between its legs, brought her arms above her head and brought her wrists together and opened her palms. She glowed with power as an aura formed around her and seemed to hum for several seconds... "NOVA CANNON!" Her aura exploded outward and flared around her body for several feet in all directions, cracking the cement around her from the force of the blast. The monster roared in pain as its legs were instantly shattered in several spots and looked down just as a massive beam of power fired out of the girl's hands.   
  
Most witnesses were blinded by the attack's light, but they could hear the Youma screaming within the inferno, there was the sound of something tearing, and an explosion that leveled the American restaurant. It was almost strong enough to blow Moon and Mercury off their feet, but they managed to stay upright and stare at the mess around them.  
  
Sailor Moon was in shock. That blast had been on par with some of the attacks she performed using the Silver Crystal to amplify her power. There were spots in front of her eyes, but she was aware enough that she could tell that the girl in white armor was kneeling in front of her. Moon looked her over and wondered who she was, where someone like this could come from...and who the other one was.  
  
"Sailor Moon what are you doing...here..." Luna said as she ran up to the girl.  
  
Ranma was about to greet her princess, when she saw the "....c-c-c- c-c-at!!!!" She screamed and ran out of the area in a white blur.  
  
Amy saw this and fell over laughing as Ranma ran right into a nearby wall and knocked herself out, creating a human shaped impact hole before sliding to the ground. Amy, still giggling and shaking her head, jumped over to her friend and slung her over her shoulder. She waved to Sailor Moon as she walked off.  
  
"WAIT?!" Sailor Moon yelled out.  
  
Amy stopped and gazed at the girl. "What's up?"  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"I don't really have a code name, but if you must call me something, then call me, Nova. This..." Amy indicated Ranma, "is Guardian Knight."   
  
"We have a number of questions that need answered." Mercury said, coldly.  
  
Nova shook her head, Ranma would have to contact the Scouts at a later date and set up a normal meeting to reveal herself to her Usagi. "I am not allowed to answer anything without Guardian Knight here being conscious, well meet later, you pick the place."  
  
"Do you know Juban High School?" Sailor Moon asked.  
  
"Sure, we'll be there at 11PM tonight...just don't bring the cats with you."  
  
"Um...ok." Said Sailor Moon, she looked a little confused.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	11. Strange Days10 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 10  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Juban High was a 4 story school with each floor devoted to which year of high school one was attending. Nova stood on the clock tower built into the top center of the building and kept watch over the grounds as she waited for the Scouts to show up. She had been here fore nearly two hours now and she was not in a good mood, and wanted to break something because of her own stupidity. Why she had set the time so late was a total mystery to her and Ranma wasn't very happy with her either.   
  
He wanted to sleep, not perch on a roof in the middle of a district he knew nothing about for five girls in silly costumes, he felt like bird for some reason. That and this Guardian Uniform was not designed for comfort, the skirt had a tendency to ride up and show more leg than either of them were comfortable with. Amy had caught several glimpses of Ranma's white panties now, they came with the outfit, she didn't have any say in the matter.  
  
Amy was watching Ranma out of the corner of her eye, with each passing day it became harder and harder for her to ignore her growing attraction to the most adorable person she had ever encountered. She didn't care if he was male or female. She just wanted to be with him. She didn't know how to deal with that, his new powers and confidence were even more impressive.   
  
He had gained over four decades of memories and there were nearly a dozen different types of Ki attacks available to Ranma now. Amy wanted to learn some of them and wondered what she would have to do to persuade him. She knew that Ranma wasn't all powerful, even with these new attacks and abilities, still her cute factor had been turned up a notch.   
  
Ranma had even been a little relieved when he had found a limit to what he could do. "There was no challenge to life if there was no one around to give you a decent fight" He had said. He had spent too many years training to be the best just to drop all of it because of fancy magical powers.   
  
Even though she had to admit being a little impressed with his decision to only help the Scouts when they needed it. He didn't want to be dependent on his powers in a fight, he would use then only when he needed to.  
  
"ZZZZZzzz..zz." Ranma snored as she leaned against the wall and caught a few minutes sleep.  
  
Amy grinned and wondered why she wanted a camera, she also had an urge to toss the girl off the roof for some weird reason. She shrugged, this was her chance to stop the useless fight with the Scouts and get some good done for a change. The darkness was growing and she had no way to trace it down, she hoped Mercury might have some ideas on how to do it. Amy looked down into the court yard and noticed several girls walking onto the grounds and looking around, they were all in uniform. She counted 4 of them.  
  
She quickly spotted the Inners, Mercury, Jupiter, Mars, and Venus, but there was no sign of Sailor Moon. "Wake up Ranma, Guardian Knight. They are here for our meeting."  
  
Ranma's eyes snapped open, "It's about time."  
  
"Sorry, you know I figured that a late night meeting would be better."  
  
"I know, but I like my sleep too and this is meeting and not a battle."  
  
"True, I've only spotted the Inners so far. That means that the Princess is holding back, I don't know if the Outers are around though."  
  
"Outers, those are the ones we have to be careful of?"  
  
"Yes, they are trigger happy too."  
  
"Attack and ask questions later?"  
  
"No, attack and destroy everything in their path until it is gone, screw the questions."  
  
"Oh, this could be bad then, I don't want to fight them if I don't have to, and they are girls, no mater how powerful they are."  
  
"True, I made a huge mistake when I started that stupid series of attacks on them."  
  
"They'll get over it." Said Ranma.  
  
"Well, hopefully I made an impression on one of those girls." Amy said as she grinned lecherously.  
  
Ranma rolled her eyes and giggled nervously, her friend deafeningly  
  
had some strange ideas. "Well lets get down there."  
  
Using the window sills along the back of the building they quickly hopped down to the ground and landed without a sound. Nova looked around the corner and spotted the girls waiting near the trees in front of the gate, impatiently. Well Mars and Jupiter were arguing with each other, Mercury was standing off to the side and looking at her little computer, and Venus was looking nervous.   
  
They all stopped and looked up as Amy and Ranma walked around the corner of the building. Amy saw Mercury nod as they came forward, Mars and Jupiter looked them over like mass murderers on the loose and it was obvious that Venus was the back up, depending on how things went.  
  
"Good evening Scouts."  
  
"Hello..." Started Mercury.  
  
"Who the hell are you and what do you want with the Princess!?" Mars yelled.  
  
Amy ignored Sailor Mars and turned to Mercury. "I'm Nova and this is Guardian Knight, I thought it would be a good idea if we all had a little chat."  
  
"About what?" Growled Jupiter.  
  
"Nova are you positive these are the Sailor Scouts you told me about?" Guardian Knight asked. Her eye twitched a little as she watched the scene.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"They sure don't seem like they are dedicated to what they say they are in their speeches."  
  
"How dare you?!" Yelled Mars.  
  
"Humph!" Ranma snorted. "You sure don't seem to embody what you preach."  
  
A battle aura formed around Mars and Jupiter as Ranma smirked at them. Amy realized that no matter how much her friend changed, he would always be arrogant and full of pride. Ranma did this with everyone until he had them figured out. It was also a hold over from the abuse he had taken with his father, a kind of defense to keep others at bay until he knew if he could trust them or not. The two Scouts looked like they were about to attack when Mercury told them to stop and stepped forward.  
  
"Cut it out you two, we are here to talk, not fight."  
  
"I wouldn't mind the fight." Guardian Knight said to the two girls. "Of course I would win, that's a given."  
  
Amy nearly burst into giggles. It ended up as a snort that drew everyone's attention. It made her blush and Ranma look at her oddly. "Lets just talk, it is what were hereto miss a little sleep for."  
  
"Agreed. Why did you want to meet the Princess?"  
  
"...we need to..." Ranma began.  
  
"That is between us, it is none of your concern." Amy interrupted and silently apologized to Ranma when she looked over at her.  
  
"Why you..." Mars began.  
  
"I have been watching you Scouts for some time now, I wanted see if you were as good as your reputation. So far you have spent more time arguing amongst yourselves than fighting these monsters that keep popping up. I've watched as some strange girl keeps taking them out for you while you lay unconscious on the ground or hover in the back round."  
  
"How dare you insult us like this!?" Jupiter screamed.  
  
"Why shouldn't we? Me and GK here are strong enough to kill most of these monsters without transforming. I haven't even seen you girls practicing and what you do call training is pathetic compared what me and GK here do on a daily basis just to stay in shape."  
  
"CUT IT OUT!" Mercury yelled.  
  
Everyone looked at the blushing girl and decided to settle down. "Okay, but we called this meeting for several reasons." Amy said, she noticed that Ranma giving her an odd look again. "First of all, I apologize for provoking you, I have a tendency to snap at certain people for threatening me and my friends, it is a bit of a bad habit."  
  
"I'll accept that." Mercury said calmly, Mars and Jupiter just snorted and glared at her.  
  
"The second is to talk to the Princess and fix certain problems that have occurred."  
  
"Problems?" Mercury asked.  
  
"Amy Lee..."  
  
Mars snarled and even Jupiter looked a little startled, to say nothing of the others. "Don't you ever mention that perverted bitch's name in my presence again!"  
  
"Huh?" Nova said, giving Mars a weird look and sizing her up.  
  
"That...that pervert has been hounding us for weeks now. She is going to die when I get my hands on her!"  
  
"Mars, I talked to Amy Lee and she confirmed what I saw, you girls attacked her first, she even saved your Princess in the middle of a fight..."  
  
"I have visions of the future! It is one of my skills as a Sailor Scout and I have been informed that this perverted bitch will kill us all if she is not taken out!"  
  
"Oh please, you obviously don't know what you are talking about Mars..."  
  
"Shut Up!"  
  
Amy blinked and noticed some slow movement out of the corner of her eye, she wasn't sure what it was, but she was going to find out. She sent her senses out as Mars continued to rant and cuss up a storm that even impressed her, there was a blank area that was at the extreme range of her senses that she couldn't penetrate. She kept her face stony and looked deeper until she noticed a slight wavering in the air that signaled some kind of magic or Ki control.   
  
Right now it wasn't moving anymore, but she knew what to look for if she needed to find it again. This was going to prove to be an interesting challenge if it was what she thought it was, Ranma's father had been strangely quiet lately. She turned to look at Ranma and signaled for her to go to one of their back up plans, Mars was to unstable for her plan to work.   
  
"Mercury, we came here to talk, obviously Mars here has other ideas. I will make contact with the Princess on my own, good night ladies." Nova said, spun on her heel and launched into the night sky. She bounced off a tree, closely followed by Ranma, to the roof of the school and bounced her way towards the outer sections of Nerima in the distance. They both heard the sounds of the girls giving chase, but they used their skills  
  
to vanish in mid air.  
  
"Amy, what was that all about?" Ranma called.  
  
"There was someone watching the meeting, I couldn't tell who it was though. They were using some kind of cloaking technique."  
  
"I didn't sense anything and I was looking."  
  
"I barely noticed it, more of a feeling than anything else so we'll need to be more careful."  
  
"Alright, what did you think of Mars back there."  
  
"You caught that too?"  
  
"Yeah, she didn't feel right. I can't really explain it."  
  
"She has always been a hot head, I may need to take care of her in a quiet way that wouldn't alert anyone."  
  
"You said you were going to stop doing that because the threat was getting out of hand."  
  
Amy frowned and shrugged. "Sometimes you're no fun."  
  
*********  
  
Deep under the sands of the Sahara in an unknown region is a small temple, its buried nearly a quarter mile under the sands and has been lost to history for millennia. There are no land marks on the surface that could be used to find it by mortal means, but for the first time in centuries this dark and foreboding temple has a visitor, how he found it is a complete mystery, but he appears in a swirl of light and looks around in curiosity.   
  
Zepher shakes his head and grins as a couple of torches in the room suddenly light up on their own, proof that a bit of the old magic still works. There is a short hallway off to the side and he strides down this, kicking up dust with every step. The air, though stale is breathable and he wonders why for several moments before shrugging it off as more magic. The items in this temple had been placed here since before the fall of the Silver Millennium by the one of the ruling nations of earth, at least that is what the legends said.  
  
His Master wanted one of these items brought to him as soon as possible, this was possible only because his Master knew things that others didn't, hidden secrets. These items were some of the most dangerous magical items in existence and had been placed here to keep them out of the hands of idiots that wanted to gain their powers.   
  
Zepher hoped his master knew what he was doing with these things. They were very dangerous and unpredictable. Even after all this time the temple was in perfect condition, nothing was out of place, the pictures on the wall describing the horrors entombed in here were absolutely gross and showed every little detail, it made even him shudder in horror.  
  
The passage way ended at the doorway to a small room, according to the map he had been given, this was the beginning of a major under taking and he to continue on until the end once he started on the path beyond this door or he would never leave this place. At the end of this test he would reach a vault that he had been given the key to, he had no idea where his master got it, but it would save him a lot of time.   
  
Zepher wasn't sure why he had to do this on foot, but the Master had said so and he had no intention of disobeying. The door was unmarked and opened easily as he pushed on it, evil power rushed out of the room like a plague and he absorbed the power instinctively as it washed over him. It felt wonderful, almost erotic and stimulating, Zepher sighed and stepped forward into the room.  
  
The door slammed shut the instant he was a few paces into the passage way and a set of torches lit up a small alcove to his left that had a spiral stair case leading down into the depths of the earth. He shrugged and hopped down the steps and was soon standing at the bottom. There was a frigid chill in the air and he could see ice had formed all along the bottom edges of the stairs as he stepped off onto a small ledge overlooking stalactite ridden pit.   
  
There were torches all along the walls of the pit giving it an eerie feel. Every now and then he could make out something hanging off of, or inside of, one of the columns that were set deeper into the room. There were also noises down here, they were had to make out, but he thought it sounded like dripping water, considering the ice he figured he wasn't too far off of the truth.  
  
He took a few minutes to cross the bridge and soon found a trail, the torches were lighting his way, flickering on and off as he moved past them or entered their area of influence, the small trail leading deeper into the earth took on a whole new meaning because of this. He was a bit surprised to have made it this far without being attacked or setting off a trap, but chalked it up to a bit of good luck. The trail went downwards in a slow spiral for hours.   
  
Eventually the trail changed and took him to the inner edge of the pit and followed along this. He was forced to creep along this narrow path for some distance and he lost count of the time he nearly fell of the tiny ledge and onto the stalagmites below. He noted that there were torches set into the wall above him that kept pace with him as he moved. Then just as he was stepping onto normal ground again the pit guardians began to attack him.  
  
Zepher didn't even blink in surprise; it had been the perfect spot for an ambush. He raised his hand and started to fire off blasts of magical energy, the pit guardians were like undead monsters. They lurched and slithered from out of the very walls. If the rumors were true, just to be touched by one of them would be enough to make you into one of them. It was how they were maintained over the centuries, adventurer had found the place and been consumed by the guardians. There were hundreds of them as they swarmed him, but he grinned and continued to fire off blasts.  
  
A horrid odor of cooked and rotten flesh filled the air as he dealt with the problem, for all their numbers he decided that they were not much of a threat. There were just a giant annoyance to him really and he had plenty of time to make his way through them. Luckily his blasts were powerful enough to nearly vaporize the disgusting creatures. He only encountered one problem with them and that was when they just formed into a giant sludge like mass and swamped him in a large mass.   
  
Zepher continued forward and through the disgusting thing as if it didn't exist, blasting it to pieces and smirking to himself at how easy this was.  
  
*********  
  
"Amy, now that we lost the Scouts, I have some business to attend to."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Well, you know I got all those memories back right?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Pops and Mr. Tendo used Shampoo's memory erasing technique on me a few months ago when Akane picked Ryoga over me. I guess your arguing just got to be to much for her and she went with him instead of me. I didn't take it to well and broke down, but just as I was beginning to accept it a little, those bastards ambushed everyone in the house and changed their memories so that the schools could be united at any cost, even our happiness."  
  
Amy rolled her eyes, it was just like the old fart to pull something like that, he always thought more of his own comfort than his own son. "What are you going to do?"  
  
"I'm not sure yet, I do know the old panda has a good chance of becoming a rug in the near future. As for the rest of the family, I don't know. I was planning to restore their memories, there is a technique I remember from my past life that will work for that. I just need to collect the correct herbs and spices and touch the pressure points on each of them."  
  
"Do you need any help?"  
  
"No, this is my responsibly, but there are going to be consequences now that I think about it."  
  
"Whoa!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"A few days ago you would have never have thought beyond the main goal, your past life must have had a very interesting impact on you."  
  
"Yeah, I was quite..."  
  
"DIE, DEMON SAOTOME!" Yelled a voice from above them.  
  
Ranma groaned as he recognized the voice as Kuno, he pivoted just slightly and kicked him in the stomach. The kick blew threw the kendoist's defenses, shattered his sword and launched him into the sky. Amy whistled as she watched him fly off and giggled at the tired look on Ranma's face.  
  
"What?" Ranma whined.  
  
"You didn't even break stride, you barely blinked when he attacked."  
  
"Yeah, though now that you mention it, he hasn't been around lately."  
  
"Naw, this is Kuno were talking about here. He's insane and the biggest pervert this side of Hopposai."  
  
"I'll give you that one, he is totally hopeless when it comes to seeing the real world. Have you ever seen him act normally?"  
  
"Nope, though of his whole family he is the sanest, and that is saying a lot."  
  
"I remember now, Kodachi is into drugs isn't she?"  
  
"Yep, and potions and poisons too."  
  
"Do you think she may have the rare herb you need for that stuff you need to make."  
  
"I...I never even considered her, she just might have what I need, but the price would be far to high and would cause just as many problems as I am going to correct."  
  
"Possibly, what about some flower shops or occult shops?"  
  
"I was planning to just go out into the forest and get them without anyone knowing what I was going to do."  
  
"So it is time for another training trip?"  
  
"Nope, every time I go on one of those I end up taking everyone along with me. They are either forced to come along, like with Kasumi or Akane, or they follow me for various reasons, like to kill me or marry me and I don't feel like going through that again. If Akane takes it upon herself to actually cook some thing other than curry we might be in trouble."  
  
"Hmmm...I'm not sure what to tell you then."  
  
"Don't worry about it, I can be gone for a few days without anyone really caring."  
  
"I would, you baka, but since I know what you are planning it doesn't matter."  
  
"You could tell everybody that I went on a private training trip, or something like that, if anyone even notices I am gone that is." Ranma said with a shrug.  
  
Amy shrugged to, figuring it would be better to see if anyone even noticed he was gone or not. "Eh."  
  
**********  
  
Black Razor appeared with a flare of black light and found herself on the sidewalk of a deserted street. It was about 8 at night and the area was in a little used part of Juban. There were apartment towers covering several square blocks in every direction, she looked around for several seconds until she spotted just what she would need.   
  
Raising her hands she glowed for several seconds and watched as the shadows formed by the street lights took on monster like forms and started to move around. They writhed and struggled to fight her influence but that was impossible, she was far to strong and her power to manipulate shadows was absolute.   
  
Soon she had a small army at her feet and with a flick of her wrist sent them out to do as much damage as they could. She needed to get the Scouts to show up. They were a distraction for the Scouts and she hoped they were strong enough to withstand this assault. She had plans for them that went beyond what the Master wanted.   
  
Screams soon started to fill the air as the shadows did what they were told and Black Razor started to absorb large amounts of energy from her shadows and sending it back to her Master. She giggled insanely as she waited for the girls to show up, they all had parts to play and she wanted them to be right where she needed them.  
  
"Hey, @$$#@%%! Just what the hell do you think you are doing?"  
  
Black Razor spun around and saw a girl. It took a few seconds to recognize the red head in front of her since she was expecting the Sailor Scouts. "You!"  
  
"Hey, how you doin, are you still causing problems? I thought you got this out of your system the other day?" Amy Lee asked snidely.  
  
"Ha, I will bring this world to it's knees!"  
  
"Don't you think your a little old for fantasies like that."  
  
Razor growled and motioned for her shadows to attack. "Get her, kill her!"  
  
Amy shrugged and watched as over 50 shadow like monsters pealed themselves off of buildings, cars, and flowed from everywhere. They moved at her in a giant mass of silent writhing death. Amy stood there and yawned, she had seen more threatening monster than this over the years. She crouched down just as it shot forward and enveloped her. The only thing left was silence.  
  
Then for several seconds nothing moved, but then there was a strange noise from within the shadow monster. It weaved back and forth like water, its head bent to the side like a confused dog, just as a pillar of pure red light fired out of its back and rose into the sky, held there for several seconds, then fell straight back down and impacted the shadow causing a large explosion. The light grew at a quick pace as it seemed to make the monster glow from the inside out.   
  
Amy Lee was revealed as the source of the light as she stood in the middle of the monster. Her arms were raised into the air, a giant aura of red power flowing around her like armor. Her eyes were glowing an evil red and focused right into Black Razor's own, sending a chill down her spine as she could suddenly feel just how much power Amy was generating in that one instant.  
  
With a faint scream of pain, the shadows were dispersed and Amy allowed her aura  
  
to flare out like an uncontrollable fire. "What are you going to use on me now, girl?"  
  
"Oh please, do you think you can actually beat me? I am an experienced warrior. I wasn't given this assignment for my good looks you know."  
  
"Well then, here, lets see if you fight as well as you look cute stuff." Amy purred.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
Amy launched off the ground as if she had been shot out of a cannon and was instantly in Razors face before she could comprehend it. The attack was a simple straight punch, a kick to the stomach and the patented double handed blow to the back to send said victim plowing into the ground. Razor hit hard, screaming in shock that this could even happen to her, but it didn't harm her all that much, her powers took care of any damage she may have received. She crawled out of the small carter and glared up at Amy, reevaluating her opponent.  
  
"Hold it right there Bitch!"  
  
"You won't get away with this!"  
  
Razor spun to the side and blink in surprise as Sailors Uranus and Neptune ignored her and launched multiple attacks at Amy as she stood over her downed enemy. Razor nearly fell down laughing as she realized that these two idiots were helping her to win. She powered up a blast of shadow fire and launched it at Amy as well, but the girl managed to dodge and weave through the triple attack. Razor laughed to herself as Uranus and Neptune helped her out with questioning her, but this was just like them, they were over confident and had a reputation for breaking an opponent before finding out the truth of any situation.  
  
"Uranus, that one in black is giving off most of the negative energy in  
  
the area!" Neptune yelled.  
  
"Kill them both!"  
  
"Okay!"  
  
'Oh SHIT!' Amy and Razor thought at the same time.  
  
Amy suddenly had to do a stop, drop, and roll to avoid the blast of water Neptune was throwing at her. She flared up and quickly fired back, aiming for the ground at Neptune's feet, but she jumped out of the way before the resulting explosion could cause her any damage. She landed lightly and fired off another quick 'DEEP SUBMERGE' in Amy's direction without breaking stride. These two had always been on Amy's irritation list and they were quickly making there way to the 'destroy at all costs' list.  
  
"What the hell are you firing at me for, lady? I haven't done anything wrong!"  
  
"Yeah right, I saw what you did to that other girl!"  
  
"She attacked me first, I was just protecting myself!"  
  
"DEEP SUBMERGE!" Neptune screamed and launched.  
  
Amy landed from a flip and sighed before firing off her own blast of red power and canceling out Neptune's attack. She followed this up with another blast to the tree just behind the green haired Scout.   
  
The girl dodged the attack easily enough, but was caught in the explosion of bark and splinters as the tree exploded around her from behind. Amy shot forward and slammed Neptune into the ground, knocking the wind out of her and incapacitating her for the next few minutes.   
  
Then about 20 yards away Black Razor and Uranus were tossing attacks back and forth, obliterating most of the street and damaging the buildings around them without care in the world. Uranus tossed out 3 quick 'WORLD SHAKING' attacks and managed to overwhelm her opponent just long enough to hurt her. Razor screamed in shock as she was blasted through corner of a building in a shower of stone and stucco. Landing on her shoulders hurt, but it allowed her to roll to her feet just as a 4th 'WORLD SHAKING' hit her in the chest.  
  
She fell on her face, stunned and in shock that anyone could do this to her so easily. These Scouts seemed to be much stronger than the others and they were actually soldiers, cold blooded and down right mean. She had underestimated them and now she was paying the price, Zepher had to know about this. She had been warned and failed to take this kind of reaction into context. Black razor rolled over just as a 5th 'WORLD SHAKING' slammed into her.  
  
Razor screamed as her vision went white and she felt her body being torn to pieces, but then she saw Zepher standing in the shadows of a nearby building, watching her with an unreadable expression on his face. She tried to reach out to him in her panic and paid for it, his eyes flared a bright white for a second and she felt her body being filled with power.   
  
Power beyond anything she had ever conceived of, it rushed through her veins and muscles like liquid gold. It was then that she realized what had happened to her and fear filled her heart for the first time in years. Black Razor screamed out, not in pain but in horror as her soul was ripped from her body and Uranus' blast finished its explosion. Razor shook her head and saw her enemy getting ready to fire off another blast, she rolled and to her feet and slammed her newly clawed fingers into the stone and screamed in ecstasy. It echoed all over the neighbor hood and was enough to give children nightmares for weeks.  
  
What had once been a very good looking bad girl was now some kind of hideous monster. It was nearly 9 ft tall and had vaguely female form, covered in black fur that gleamed wetly under the street lights and had a set of 3 inch fangs sticking out of the side of her mouth. Its eyes were a deep red and glowed with an evil glint. The most frightening features were the black wings and the claws. It glared at Uranus and howled, causing Amy to stop and look at it.   
  
"What the hell is that?!" Amy yelled out.  
  
Neptune rolled to her feet and ran over to Uranus and pulled out her mirror, they watched and gasped at what it showed them. "That thing isn't even human anymore, it is pure Youma, and we have to defeat it."  
  
"This is going to take awhile, as a human she was taking a major beating, this is 10 times a strong as she was. I can feel it." Uranus panted out as she gasped for air, tossing all those blasts was draining her energy quickly.  
  
"This is your fault!" Neptune yelled at Amy.  
  
The red head blinked. "How do you figure that?"  
  
"If you hadn't been holding us back we would have won by now!" Uranus yelled.  
  
"I was just protecting myself from being killed when you interfered in my fight Blondie, so shut up and help me kill that thing!"  
  
Amy didn't feel like being left out and took a second to power up a blast, it pulsed to life in her hands as she concentrated. Ignoring the Outers she formed it into a ball and threw it at the monster, it slammed into it and created a huge explosion that rocked the area and shattered what few windows were left in the area. The ground rocked and Amy jumped to the top of a nearby building and fired off another blast as soon as the thing jumped out of the explosion and into the sky.  
  
Her second shot missed and impacted against the building across the street and obliterated most of the first and second floor of that side. Amy growled in frustration and launched off the building just as Uranus and Neptune blasted most of the roof off trying to hit the monster and her at the same time. Amy soared out of the destruction and shot towards the monster as it changed course and descended on the two Sailors.   
  
She was tempted to let it get to them before it attacked, but decided against it. They ducked and rolled out of the way as Amy used her momentum to slam it into the ground with enough force to crack the cement before it could correct its dive. There was a satisfying crunching sound as it hit and Amy flipped off at the last second.  
  
It didn't seem to notice though as it jumped into the air with its wings spread and hopped nearly 30ft into the air while firing off multiple blasts of dark energy. Amy was to slow to react and was hit square in the chest with one of them, throwing her back down the street and into a wall. She slumped down to the ground and groaned in pain, that thing was a lot stronger than it had originally looked. She rolled to her feet just as Uranus and Neptune went into action again.  
  
They rushed forward and Neptune fired at the monster and knocked it back several feet, but it shrugged it off like it was nothing. Uranus on the other hand turned around and fired a blast at her and Amy had to scramble to dodge it even as it vaporized a large section of the wall she had been leaning against. Amy dove to the side and rolled to her feet, her aura flaring around her in her anger. She failed to notice the little black sparks of negative energy in her aura as it pulsed out and melted the asphalt a her feet.  
  
"Fire at IT, you IDIOTS!" Amy yelled out.  
  
"You're as much a threat as it is bitch!" Uranus yelled out.  
  
Amy was seeing red and she decided that these two deserved something a little more extreme than what she usually did to her enemies when she didn't want to destroy them. With Uranus and Neptune now focused on her, they failed to notice as the monster moved to attack again. Amy lit up in a pillar of power and brought both her hands forward and fired off a large blast of power just as Neptune noticed the monster's intentions. Amy's shot went high above the monster, curved around, and fell onto like the wrath of god. Neptune and Uranus spun around just in time to fire off two shots apiece.  
  
Then only a few seconds later all of this hit the weakened monster from all directions at once. The explosion was more than even Amy had expected and figured that they had just created a 30 by 50 foot crater, the roof of a nearby building collapsed as the ground rumbled. They all waited, watching each other out of the corners of their eyes, for the smoke and dust to clear, but Amy helped things along by tossing out a wave of Ki and blowing it away like a quick moving wind.   
  
What had been Black Razor was now, mush, there wasn't that much left and it was quickly dissolving away and filling the bottom of the hole in a tar like substance. They must have broken a water main as water was shooting height into the air and raining down around the area. Amy sighed and relaxed fractionally, but she still kept her eyes on the Outers.  
  
"Your next, Red." Uranus said, getting ready to fire off a 'WORLD SHAKING'.  
  
"One down, one to go." Neptune said coldly.  
  
"You Scouts are too much, you know that? Heh, well I don't mind having a bit of revenge on you for trying to kill me. The Inners have already felt my wrath, you might as well too." Amy said lecherously and licked her lips as she made it quite plain she was checking both girls out. They gasped in shock and stepped back in surprise.  
  
"You can't be serious!?" Yelled out Neptune, her face a solid red.  
  
Amy just smiled and vanished in a burst of red light, but not before firing off a couple of shots that hit the Outers in their chests. They were knocked back several feet and fell on their butts with grunts of pain. They laid there for several moments trying to figure out what had happened. She was too stunned to move as the red energy seemed to flow across their bodies in a very strange manner, flared, and vanished. They climbed to their feet and looked around. The red haired girl was gone.  
  
"She doesn't seem to have damaged us all that much." Uranus pointed out, rubbing her chest, a bit of the red energy flowing around her hand.  
  
"I think it was distraction so that she could get away...uh oh..." Neptune gasped and turned bright red as her knees began to shake.  
  
"What is it?" Asked a worried Uranus, but then she felt it too and she gasped for air and had forcibly resist this urge to put her hand between her legs.  
  
"What the hell did she do!?"  
  
"I have no idea, but I think this is similar to what she did to Mercury and Jupiter."  
  
Uranus and Neptune gasped and fell to their knees and stared at each other, their eye sight turning red as the red energy flared up again and flowed over their bodies and began to eat away at their clothing. They could feel it moving through their blood now, leaving in its wake pure ecstasy and pleasure beyond anything they had ever encountered before. They moaned simultaneously and shuddered as they fell over, a few seconds later they inched their way over to each other...  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	12. Strange Days11 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 11  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Before Akane had revealed her true feelings to him, Ranma had known that he loved her, in a way. He loved his father because over the years the only thing the man had ever shown him was a kind of abusive love, both verbal and physical. He had endured it for almost 13 years now and he had only recently begun to question his beliefs. Over the years he had unconsciously equated love and caring with pain and abuse.   
  
Some of his memories from his past life had been quite surprising to him and his odd view on love was one of them. Akane had been treating him friendly one minute and hurting him the next, just like pops so he had thought that was how things were supposed to go. Now he had a couple years of home life under his belt and he had begun to realize that he was wrong about so many things.  
  
He understood that the reintroduction of over 40 years of good memories into his mind was a major reason for his change, but he still had a certain way of seeing things that was all him. His thoughts were running along this line as he made his way through the woods on the outskirts of Tokyo. He had decided to head over to where he had fought Ryoga and his Breaking Point that one time.   
  
Along the way he had taken his time and slowly sifted through more of his new memories. He had not wanted to, he was a man and he wanted to stay one, but there was knowledge there that he wanted and to do that he had incorporate them into his mind completely, even if some of that stuff gave him the willies.  
  
Ranma looked over at the base of a large tree and found the final plant he needed for his potion. It was a weed actually and he knelt down to carefully pull it out of the ground and shook the dirt off the small deformed root. It had a good root and was just what he was looking for. He broke it off and placed in the small satchel he was using to carry the rest of his ingredients.   
  
It was at times like this that he considered trying to learn Mouse's Hidden Weapons technique, but shrugged it off for a project he could take care of later. To Ranma's surprise he had found all he needed far easier than he had thought and finished collecting everything he needed almost half a day sooner than expected, he headed back to camp to get things started.  
  
When he had set his camp up he had taken the time to get the fire started so that he had the coals nice and hot by the time he returned, though he had expected to be cooking dinner instead of getting his potion underway. Using a stick, he knocked the wood into a small bed of coals and pulled a large metal pan out of his pack and filled it with water.   
  
He also set up a second larger pan and prepared a light stew for dinner. From there he ground all the roots and flowers into a thick dust and dumped them into the water to boil. Over the next two hours he kept adding water and focusing his Ki into the concoction until it turned into a thick syrup. It gave off a faint glow in the setting sun and proved that he hadn't made any mistakes.  
  
After that he ate supper and spent a couple hours practicing his new technique, 'Ascension of the Dragon God'. Cologne hated the move because it allowed him to reach all new levels of power and she had witnessed several fighters a kill themselves and their families trying to learn just the basics of the technique. On the plus side, it was a move she was afraid of and one she didn't know how to use against him. He now understood why his pop had waited so long to show it to him though.   
  
It was very dangerous and almost impossible for a less skilled fighter to learn. Amy had explained to him why those others were dead and what they had done wrong. Her knowledge of techniques like this one was a pleasant surprise, but she had told him that she specialized in the super strong techniques and used them more than some of the others.   
  
Ranma shook himself out of his thoughts and mentally prepared himself to go through what she had explained to him. Standing beside the fire he ran through the mental kata Amy had taught him to control his Ki and allowed his aura to flare up in a certain way. Intense concentration was needed to control the technique, but he had to do this in stages, mastering each one before moving on to the next.   
  
She had broken it down into twelve stages of control and he was up to the seven and hoped to have reached the 8th by the time he returned to Nerima in the morning. He spent the rest of the afternoon and good portion of the night practicing and using his aura to light up the clearing, the sight of his aura blazing like a giant bon-fire had filled him with pride.   
  
Amy had also told him something that shocked him to the core of his beliefs. It seems it was possible to use large amounts of Ki to generate weapons like out of the movies. Light Sabers or other kinds of energy weapons, and the thing that had caused the most shock was that since they were made of pure energy it was impossible to disarm him or destroy the weapon since it was made of energy it could be used for as long as he had energy to create it.   
  
To bad, after hours of trying, he still hadn't discovered how to make them. Ranma had crawled into his sleeping bag totally exhausted a little after midnight with the intention to sleep in, after all the panda wasn't around to bother him.  
  
Early the next morning, around 6am, Ranma picked up his stuff and cursed to himself about the force of habit the panda had pounded into him. He doused the fire and made sure the place was back to the way it was before he showed up, before heading out. He had spent the night reliving his previous life as well, it had been an education to say the least.   
  
As a girl he now had all the nasty truth of what that involved, the monthly cycle and what it meant, the maintenance, he even remembered what it felt like to...blush...sleep with a man. Sure he had recalled this before, but it had been like watching a movie, the feelings weren't there. This had filled in the blanks, Ranma shuddered and wondered if he had done the right thing, he was 'man' after all.   
  
The trek back to Nerima was slow and he spent his time considering his options. If he did restore everyone's memories of the events all those months ago, it was going to cause more problems than he wanted to deal with, but his honor wouldn't let him just leave it be until the problem was fixed. He sighed and considered plans, who to cure first and if there was anyone that should be left without their memories.   
  
He finally stopped and looked up at the door way to the Tendo dojo, it looked as it always did, but there was a change in the atmosphere that was almost tangible. Shrugging he pushed open the gate and headed in side, calling out that he was home.  
  
Kasumi stepped out of the kitchen. "Good morning Ranma."  
  
"Hi Kasumi, where is everybody?"  
  
"Akane went over to a friend's house, Nibiki is in her room, and your father and mine are out in the dojo working on something."  
  
"Thanks Kasumi, oh, have you seen Ryoga or P-chan lately?"  
  
"No I haven't."  
  
"That's okay, can I have a couple glasses of strong tea, I have to make a deal with Nabiki."  
  
A few minutes later Ranma had a small tray resting on his hand as he knocked on Nabiki's door. It opened and he walked inside and closed the door, Nabiki turned away and sat back down in front her computer giving him a strange look. It was a mixture of irritation and curiosity. "What do you want Ranma-kun?"  
  
"Well I don't know how to put this..."  
  
"Just spit it out, time is money after all." Nabiki smirked.  
  
Ranma shrugged, Nabiki had always been a little rude to him and he was used to it. "When I was recovering from my injuries at Doc. Tofu's clinic I received a serious concussion. This knocked some memories loose that I almost wish hadn't been."  
  
"Oh, and what was knocked loose?"  
  
"A few months ago you and most everyone in the family were subjected to Cologne's memory erasing technique, the same one that Shampoo used on Akane."  
  
"Excuse me?" Nabiki frowned.  
  
"Someone removed your memories of what happened a few months ago, and if they hadn't been it would have solved a number of problems, including my a portion of my fiancé problem."  
  
"And why should I believe you?"  
  
"If you let me free up your memories with a couple pressure points I can return your memory."  
  
"So Cologne did this to us?"  
  
"No, our fathers did."  
  
"What?! You don't expect me to believe that do you?"  
  
"Something happened that he didn't like and this was the easiest way to fix the damage. He did it to me first, while I was asleep more than likely, and then both our fathers hit every one in the house."  
  
"My father wouldn't to anything like this to us, he loves us..."  
  
"I know he does, but he is also willing to do everything in his power to bring the schools together. Then there is my pop always there to derail him from forming a conscious thought and easily distracts him from considering that me and Akane don't get along."  
  
"Ranma your father isn't smart enough to do anything like that."  
  
"This is the same man who came up with the Umisen-Ken and Yamasen-ken techniques?"  
  
"Um...so what, he is a fool and a moron."  
  
"True, but he is also trying to freeload off this house and retire early so that he can get what he thinks he deserves."  
  
"Huh, and just how do you know that?"  
  
Ranma smiled, a not very pleasant one at that. "He talks in his sleep occasionally."  
  
"Alright, I will allow you to restore my memories, but if you are lying to me..."  
  
"I'm not." Ranma sat the tray on the bed and handed Nibiki a cup. "There is a small amount of a potion in there that will strengthen your chi and allow me to free up the blocked areas in your mind much more easily, I will also hit a few pressure points to speed up the process. The potion could take months to work if left on its own and even then it wouldn't free up everything."  
  
Nabiki looked at the tea and at Ranma distrustfully, but reminded herself that this was someone that couldn't lie to save his own skin. She drank the tea down and coughed as it hit her taste buds, she had never tasted anything so sweet before. "What the hell did you use in this stuff, pure sugar?"  
  
"A variant of sugar cane actually, native to Japan only and kind of rare. Stand up and tell me when your skin is tingling, it shouldn't be..."  
  
"It just started, and I feel real funny."  
  
Ranma's hands blurred as he hit multiple points around Nabiki's arms, neck, back, and head. She stands there with a confused look on her face and Ranma wonders if he may have missed a point or two. Nabiki starts to shake her head when nothing happens, but then her eyes widen as several weeks worth of memories rush through her mind.   
  
With a sigh she shuddered and falls to her knees, tears leaking out of her eyes. Ranma knelt down and held her while she cried softly, he knew why, but she had to remember it for herself. Her own father had done this to her, all for the sake of the school.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me about this right away..."  
  
"Would you have really believed me Nabiki?"  
  
Sob! "No, I guess not."  
  
"It'll be alright once I restore Akane and Kasumi, of the two I think Akane is going to be the biggest problem. Kasumi shouldn't be all that upset, she is usually a very forgiving person.  
  
"Do Kasumi first, but I think you are wrong about her, she is very traditional and will stay by daddy till the end if she doesn't know what he did. I don't how she will react, she is always bottling up her emotions and placing the family first."  
  
"The second cup of tea is for her..."  
  
"She should enjoy it a lot more than I would."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"She has sweet tooth and keeps chocolates in her room for it."  
  
"Oh yeah, I forgot about her little addiction. Amy is always giving her chocolates and candies as an incentive to train her with, works to, I think Kasumi could actually defeat Akane by now."  
  
"What are you talking about Saotome? Kasumi is a total pacifist..."  
  
"Really? Have you ever watched or helped Kasumi with the housework around here? She practices when she is cleaning you know, she is such a back round character that everybody just assumes she is harmless. Amy picked up on it immediately and has been sparing with her a few times a week just to help her improve and get her edge back."  
  
"..."  
  
After a few minutes Ranma figured he had actually managed to catch the 'Ice Queen' off guard and put her in shock. He helped Nibiki to her feet and guided her to the bed and let her lay down, then picked up the tray with the one cup of tea left and headed down stairs. Luckily he had prepared for this little play for several days now and was ready for anything that might have cropped up while doing this or he would have missed the attack.   
  
There was white blur from off to the side and he unconsciously hopped off the last few stairs and flipped over his fathers attack without spilling one drop of tea, he pivoted and sat it on the table in front of Kasumi with a smirk. Spinning around he took in the old man and saw that he was holding a shampoo bottle with the number 110 on it.   
  
"Your not getting me again old man."  
  
"You will fulfill the promise between the schools, I will not to tolerate your womanizing any longer boy."  
  
"Ranma, can I have your tea?" Kasumi called out innocently, her acute senses picking up the smell of sugar at 200 yards or less.  
  
"Go ahead Kasumi. I have to deal with this." Ranma called out calmly.  
  
"Take this!" Genma yelled out as he blurred from sight.  
  
Ranma's aura burst forth and caught his father by surprise with its sheer size and power, he flowed into his new technique and overwhelmed his father's pathetic defense to blasted him out into the pond with a large Ki blast that ripped the patio doors off and sent the old man into a large belly flop into the koi pond, a charred panda floated to the surface.   
  
Then Ranma stood straight and glared at the panda his father had become, turning around Ranma looked at the glazed eyes of Kasumi and noticed that the cup was empty, there was a little smile just curving the corners of her mouth. Faster than Kasumi could blink, Ranma hit all the points and allowed the poor girl to have her memories back.  
  
She blinked several times and glanced up at Ranma, tears running down her cheeks. "I don't understand."  
  
"A few months ago Akane revealed to everyone that she had always known about Ryoga being P-Chan and chose him for her boyfriend over me. Our fathers want the schools united above all else so they used Cologne's Memory technique on all of us to make things the way they wanted them to be."  
  
"I see." Kasumi said quietly. "Ryoga is P-Chan?"  
  
Ranma face faulted, he shook his head, she couldn't be that dense could she? "Will you help me cure Akane?"  
  
"How?" Kasumi asked, her voice a little hollow.  
  
"There was a potion in that tea that allows the pressure points I hit to work a little easier because it enhances the flow of Chi through out the body. If you can get her to drink the tea, I can hit the points and free up her memories once it takes effect.   
  
Since she also chose Ryoga as her boyfriend I have to respect her choice and help bring them together, and I can't just let her go on with her ignorant of what was done to her, knowing that she was used like this just for the sake of the school."  
  
"Did you ever care for her Ranma?"  
  
"Yes I did, but she used her mallet on me to many times for me to consider her as a fiancé's anymore, she hurt me to much for me to completely forgive her. She does not trust me and will hit me for even imagined slights now a days, just look how many times I have been sent to Tofu's clinic by her danmed hammer. Things have calmed down of late because of Amy, I think, she seems to be able to keep Akane's temper at bay somehow..."  
  
"I'm sorry Ranma."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For things not working out, I had hopped they would."  
  
"Don't worry about it, it was over months ago when me and Akane agreed to be just friends, even after those two baka's tampered with your memories."  
  
Soun staggered into the room and went into his demon head attack, smoke blowing out his nose. "SON HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A THING TO YOUR OWN FATHER! WE THOUGHT YOU WERE BEING SECRETIVE! THE SCHOOLS WILL NEVER BE UNITED NOW! YOU WILL MARRY AKANE THIS INSTANT..."  
  
"Leave him along father, haven't you done enough damage as it is!" Kasumi snapped at him.  
  
"Yeah daddy, how could you even think of erasing our memories like that, do we mean that little to you?!" Nabiki yelled from the stairs.  
  
"Huh?" Soun said in shock. "Whaaaa! My baby girls yelled at me!!" He collapsed to the floor, tears flowing out in a river.  
  
Ranma rolled his eyes and shook his head, how any man could allow himself to fall so far was beyond him. Even as a girl, he seemed to be more of a man than his so called father in law. Kasumi smiled tiredly and went back into the kitchen to get to work on dinner.   
  
He was little curious about Kasumi's reaction to what her father had done, but she seemed to just accept it, as always. Sigh. Ranma shrugged and followed her, when he entered the kitchen she asked him for the recipe for his potion. He figured that she could put it to better uses than he could. He also decided to start showing her some stuff too, after all Akane was avoiding him and Amy and this was a side of Kasumi that he liked.   
  
As he was coming out of the kitchen Amy entered the house and he noticed that her clothing was ripped, her hair was a mess, she was covered in cuts and bruises, and had a giant grin on her face. She slipped her shoes off, they were charred and smoking a little. Amy waved at him tiredly when she noticed him, but continued on to the furo. Ranma almost followed her out of worry, but realized just before he went in that it would be a bad idea. He went and told Kasumi and took over dinner while she helped Amy to bandage her cuts.  
  
A few minutes later Amy came out in a t-shirt and a pair of Ranma's pants, she went into the kitchen to help. "I borrowed your pants Ranma, mine are all in the wash or destroyed."  
  
"That's okay, so what happened to you?"  
  
"I got into a fight with some lady that called herself Black Razor, her shadow army, and the Outer Sailor Scouts. I haven't had that much fun in ages. Fighting all three of them at once was an unexpected surprise. I had hoped the Outers would help me fight this Black Razor though. Instead they decided that we both needed to be destroyed and started lobbing attacks at both of us."  
  
"Oh My! Are you going to be alright Amy? That sounds like it was a very bad fight." Kasumi said as she tasted her fried rice.  
  
"I should be fine with a little rest, the Outers are a lot stronger than the Inner Scouts."  
  
"Who won?" Ranma asked, a little depressed that he had missed it.  
  
"I'm not to sure, something odd happened to Black Razor during the fight and she was taken out. What replaced her was worse than that Taro guy you were telling me about and twice as ugly, this thing blasted the Outers and I unleashed one of my more powerful attacks on it, unfortunately it was able to survive with minimal damage.   
  
Me and the Outers eventually took a few minutes to hit it with our attacks to destroy it, then went back to trying to kill each other. Though we did manage to cause massive amounts of damage to the whole area, the crater was quite impressive too."  
  
"What about the Outers, why did they attack you?"  
  
"I tried to help them out and they attacked me, even after I tried to explain myself my actions to them. They never listen to anyone and jump to the worst possible conclusions about all everyone they come in contact with that might be a possible ally.   
  
Most of this damage is from being caught in the explosive blast by one or both of them and the monster. Man this is to much, I don't know why this is happening to me either, I usually have better luck."  
  
"That's horrible!" Kasumi said.  
  
"Tell me about it Kasumi, I don't know what I did to make all the Sailor Scouts hate me this much but it is getting on my nerves. By the way Kasumi-chan, have you learned those new moves I taught you last week?"  
  
Kasumi blushed and nodded slightly.  
  
Amy grinned, "Excellent, we will be continuing the lessons soon, after Ranma cures Akane and Ryoga of what was done to them."  
  
"You know about that?"  
  
"I gave him some advice on what he needed to."  
  
"Oh." Kasumi said and smiled at Amy.  
  
Amy stretched and stood up, failing to notice the slight blush on Ranma's face. "I'm going to catch a few hours sleep, save me something for supper would you, and I'll eat it when I get up."  
  
"Of course Amy."  
  
"Thanks Kasumi."  
  
A little while later Akane came home and saw Ranma at the table talking with her sister and her good mood went out the door. She scowled, growled, and pulled out her mallet. This was going to be one of those days, Ranma thought just before Akane's scream of "PERVERT!" rang through out the house. He knew in that instant that it was just the beginning of the pain to come...  
  
"Akane, calm down, Ranma needs to talk to you about something very important." Kasumi said, a frown forming on her face as she looked at Akane and in the back round her cringing father.  
  
"Sheesh, yeah right Kasumi..." Akane growled.  
  
"Would you like some sweet tea, I just got it today..." Several minutes later Akane's scream of rage is heard, the sound of breaking wood, and Ranma flying off into the sunset. Then an older man with long hair is also sent flying, this is then followed by an unconscious and smoking panda.   
  
"Oh My!!"  
  
"Snarl!" Akane snarls and stomps upstairs to wait for Ryoga to find his way back to her.  
  
Ranma on the other hand is just regaining his senses when he spies his landing spot, a very familiar window. He groans and wonders for the millionth time what he did to piss off all the Kami, just as he slams into Ukyo's bathroom window, into her furo, and between a pair of shapely legs.   
  
He is out cold so is spared the fact that he has his head buried right between Ukyo's legs or the return flight back to the Tendo pond. Ukyo's blush is so bright that she lights up the dimly lit bathroom and wonders if she may have reacted a little harshly, after all he was her fiancé.  
  
"Do you think he may have finally forgiven me?" Ukyo wondered, blushing even more red.  
  
On the other hand, Ranma slams into the koi pond with a giant splash and floats to the surface. Amy and Kasumi rush outside to pull him out before he drowns, they lay him out on the porch to let the water leak out naturally. Amy grinned at the worried Kasumi and motioned to the battered Ranma. "I glad things are looking up, Ranma was getting over due for a little chaos."  
  
"Chaos?"  
  
"Sure, it's been a little to quiet around her lately."  
  
The next morning Genma and Soun are at breakfast, but they are covered in bandages and sitting as far from Akane as they can. She had burst into a black and red aura of rage the instant she saw them and nearly pummeled them again. She continued to glow all through breakfast and went out to the dojo when she was done, the sounds of 'practicing' filled the house.   
  
Only Kasumi noticed that Ranma and Ami hadn't come down for breakfast, but she decided not to say anything with the mood Akane was in. For once she felt like breaking something too.  
  
*********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	13. Strange Days12 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 12  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
The day started out simply enough for every one, but it was soon to be one of the most interesting ones to date, one that no one would forget for a very long time to come. Ranma awoke earlier than normal and snuck out of the room he shared with his father, he didn't want to wake up his father and turned off the small alarm clock the old man used to get up. He knew that this would only buy him about 20 to 40 minutes before he woke up naturally, but it was enough.  
  
Ranma grinned as he came down stairs. He had a sparing match with Amy this morning. She had agreed to give him a good fight and to give him far more than the old man ever could. His battle with Saffron had been a major turning point in his strength as a Martial Artist, he had tapped into a power that few humans could even conceive of, let alone even use.   
  
Of course over the last few days, ever since he had gotten his past life memories returned to him, he had begun to understand just what it was he had used to win that fight. He had tapped the very power of this planet and used his body to focus it. Those magical theory courses he had taken back in the Silver Millennium had been put to good use after all.  
  
According to Amy that was the first sign that he was more than human, if even a cute one. He blushed a little at that thought, she had said that all of the Sailors were the same as him, reborn to preserve the last memories of a fallen kingdom, even rebuild it if things turned out the way they wanted them to be.   
  
This idea was, in his mind anyway, a very bad one on a number of levels. He remembered having numerous arguments with Sailor Pluto about her so called grand plan. Her initial objectives were fine with him, but to take it as far as the Princess was supposed to...no way would removing all the evil and dark thoughts from the human soul be a good idea.   
  
It would be like cutting off one's own foot, nearly impossible to live without and still be able to enjoy life. Ranma shook his head as he entered the dojo and gaped suddenly as he saw a sight that just baffled him, even if he had seen it on several occasions now. Amy was sparing with...Kasumi!   
  
The elder sister was moving in the slow deliberate forms of Tai Chi and warding off Amy's quick blows easily. Ranma watched them for several minutes and started to find that Kasumi was using several different forms of Martial Arts, all of them were highly defensive and completely lacking in any kind of offensive attacks. Amy would throw a quick punch at a hole in her defenses and Kasumi would just twist in an odd way, grab her wrist and toss her away.  
  
Foot sweeps were simply hopped over, kicks were redirected, and punches were used to pull Amy into a surprisingly hard throw. Of course the most surprising thing he had noticed was that Kasumi had an aura, of nearly clear power swirling around her that she used to defend against Amy Ki enhanced strength and speed. By its feel, Ranma assumed it was a manifestation of Kasumi's gentle nature in some way. After about 10 more minutes they wound down and stopped, both of them breathing hard.  
  
"Amy you don't have to handicap yourself so much when we spar."  
  
"Yeah I do, your improving at an amazing rate Kasumi, but my handicap is also helping me to train."  
  
"I know, but I just cant see how you can use your Ki to make yourself heavier, especially since you insist on wearing that heavy clothing of yours all the time."  
  
"Heh, everything is training Kasumi, simply walking to the market with 2 or 3 hundred pounds pulling you down will make you as strong as an ox."  
  
"I guess so...oh my, it's time to get breakfast ready." Kasumi said and dashed out of the dojo.  
  
Amy shook her head and glanced over at Ranma as she unfastened her jacket and lay it in one corner of the dojo. She adjusted her pants and t-shirt and made sure her shoes were in good condition. She teased Ranma a little by doing some provocative stretching techniques she had learned from a friend and gave him a good look at her flexibility.  
  
"Are you ready?" Amy asked seductively, smiling at Ranma's stunned reaction.  
  
"H-hai." Said Ranma gulped and blushed.  
  
"Then lets go to that park down the block, we are going to cause some damage to the area and we need to make sure no one will be hurt."  
  
They ran out of the dojo and roof hopped to the until they found themselves standing in a small open field, the wind was blowing through the area just enough to move the grass and made the area look peaceful and quiet as the sun rose in the distance. Of course, peaceful wasn't what either of them had in mind this day and they were glad that they wouldn't disturb anyone with this fight. It was a day of training and fun, and they were going to do everything in their power to do just that.   
  
Ranma was in his usual red silk shirt and black pants. They were facing each other and took a few seconds to try and determine how the other would be fighting. This was going to be a fight that Ranma had wanted for some time now. A chance to see just what Amy could do in combat. He had accused her of depending on her Ki to much and told her that it had affected her physical combat skills. This was a lie, even he knew that she had to be very good to access the amount of power she did with ease, but he wanted to fight her and she was stubborn, very stubborn when she didn't want to do something.   
  
"Now!" Amy yelled and ran forward.  
  
The crashed together with at speeds that would have done the flash proud, each using their enhanced abilities. Ranma gasped as he was suddenly punched in the chin and wheel kicked, sending him back several yards. Only years of training allowed him to flip and land on his feet easily, he shook the cobwebs out of his head and glared at Amy.  
  
"Do not treat me like Akane. Ranma, I am a Grand Master of several different styles. Just like you, I am faster and it is much easier for me to hit you than Akane, especially when you start to fight me like you do her." Amy smirked.  
  
"Point taken, let's go again."  
  
They flashed forward and came together with a crash that echoed over the area and used their momentum to launch into the air. Ranma was a bit confused at first as they rose off the ground, but them he realized that Amy was teaching him how to fly as they fought! He grinned as he noticed his aura starting to mirror Amy's as they moved. This also made him noticed that he was using the 'Ascension of the Dragon God' technique with ease, as if he was simply breathing.   
  
It was so simple to use now, he wasn't tired and he could feel it renewing his energies almost continuously. They came back down, landed and jumped into the air again and lashed out at each other. Amy was pressing him hard, though his defenses were impossible to break through. He grinned and upped his aura a little more.  
  
Amy followed suit and kept him guessing at just how much she was holding back. She had been fighting enemies much more powerful that Saffron over the years and had learned how to augment her powers to any situation. At certain speeds she could do things that made Ranma's techniques look like simple kata.   
  
There were several that increased the scenes and slowed things down so that she had time to analyze any situation, though there had been very few times for her to use it lately. Ranma was moving at a crawl to her eyes, his arms and legs leaving ghost like after images, showing off holes in his defense that were almost impossible for anyone else to hit.  
  
Her fist lashed out and hit Ranma in the shoulder as her leg came up and parried his wild kick. She continued the motion, spun around used her other leg to hit him in the jaw, but he dodged and counter attacked. Amy flowed around his attack as they landed and spun into a blindingly fast foot sweep, but again Ranma dodged it by hopping over it. He smiled in victory as he balanced on top of her head for a second before spinning his body around and wrapping his legs around her and rolling her over to slam her head into the ground.  
  
They crawled back to their feet and appraised each other again. Amy was impressed and a little flushed. Ranma was as good as she had though, even better than her in many areas, but she had experience on her side. She was also doing this to have a little fun so hadn't taken it too seriously, now she would have to. Ranma had scored the first take down and even bruised her head. She took a stance to a move she knew he wouldn't know. After all she had invented it at time when she had taken on an opponent like Ranma. She smirked and tensed as she watched his eyes study her.  
  
Ranma rushed forward and hopped about 10 feet into the air and used gravity to his advantage. Amy's stance looked like something out of Aikido, but that style was only effective if one was on the ground and over head attacks were to his advantage against that style. He contorted in mid air and brought his hands forward instead of his feet and went in for a grab to execute a simple Judo throw to catch her off guard. Amy seemed to phase out of existence as she spun on the...ball!? of her foot and round housed him in the back of his head with her other foot, sending him plowing into the ground and ripping his shirt to shreds as her hands blurred into claws.  
  
He groaned and sat up groggily and shook his head, there was blood running down his chin from the unexpected attack. "I thought that was an Aikido stance?"  
  
"It is, but the style is weak against over head attack, always has been, but I found that if one was to adapt certain forms and blend them into Aikido as an offensive attack one could do the most amazing things."   
  
"An offensive Aikido?"  
  
"Yep, I don't know much about the styles history here, but where I come from it was originally like all the others, used to hurt and kill. Over time it became obvious that it had its strengths in defensive attacks only. I thought this a bit strange and studied the style deeper than most of the others and developed a number of actual attacks that could be used defensively."  
  
Ranma nodded, hopped back to his feet and sprang at Amy, again they blurred as their attacks left the visual spectrum. This time they stayed on the ground and fenced back an forth for several minutes, each taking as many hits as they were giving. Ranma was growing frustrated as the attempted to begin the first steps of the Hiryü Shöten Ha technique.   
  
But Amy wasn't putting out a visible Battle Aura for him to use as the primer. So he had to adapt something on the fly and called up the Soul of Ice technique and focused. He saw Amy's eyes narrow at him and he grinned, she had been keeping her reactions totally unnoticeable, she must be growing tired to make a mistake that simple.  
  
Fists of pure blue fire flew forward and fired off two beams of power that Amy barely dodged, she had been expecting Ranma to fire off his most basic attack first, the Möko Takabisha blast. The attacks hit the ground around her feet and Amy found her feet encased in ice an instant later she failed to keep her balance and was tripped just as the second impact flowed over the first and encased her lower body.   
  
Pain flared in her legs a few seconds later and Amy decided to use her Ki abilities. Her aura burst forth and destroyed the ice around her as she grabbed onto the ice fragments with her aura and rolled forward into a crouch and pointed an arm at Ranma. The ice fragments flew forward through the spot where Ranma had been, she spotted him nearly 40 feet above the attack and instant later.   
  
Growling in pain Amy called out 'Air Vortex' as she stood up and let off a bright red aura of power. A column of wind swirled around her and rose up into the sky to grab Ranma before he could dodge. The look of shock on his face was all Amy needed to see, she grinned. Ranma, now nearly 300 feet in the air was falling from the top of the spiral, but he concentrated and allowed his Ki to take on a certain shape and felt his body fill with power. He flipped around and landed lightly on his feet as his fall was quickly reduced to a slow crawl.  
  
"I knew you had learned how to do the beginnings of a flight technique."  
  
"You used it a little while ago."  
  
"Heh, you learn even faster than anyone I have ever met."  
  
"I am the best." Ranma smirked.  
  
"Of course you know I am learning your moves too?" Amy smirked right back and batter her eye lids at him and formed the beginning ball of the Möko Takabisha .  
  
"Huh?"  
  
KA-BOOM!!!!!!!  
  
Ranma and Amy staggered around as the blast shook the park and set of alarms all across the district. They glanced around and saw a massive column of smoke rising into the sky at the edge of Nerima and Juban. Amy focused on the sight and brought her powers to bear. "It seems that the Scouts are fighting in the ruins of what used to be a factory."  
  
"We need to get over there and help them!" Ranma yelled.  
  
"Of course." Amy shrugged as if it was a forgone conclusion.   
  
They blurred and bounced to the roof of a nearby house and quickly made their way to the area. They shifted in mid air and came down in their disguises. Ranma as the white cloaked female Guardian Knight and Amy as Nova. The two red heads reached open ground and took to the air. Guardian Knight jumped up after her and wobbled for several seconds as she attempted to fly and soon had it down enough to take off after Nova. They stayed at about 30ft above the ground and weaved in and out of the buildings as they slowly turned into run down homes and shelters that bordered the factory area.   
  
**********  
  
Sailor Moon was not having a good day. she stood watching Jupiter fight a massive monster with Mars giving her a hand. They were circling it at high speed and tossing out attacks every few seconds, but it was proving to be a useless tactic. Apparently these things were still immune to their attacks as it was like spraying water on cement, a barely noticeable effect.   
  
The monster itself was one of the grosser ones she had encountered as it was made out of some kind of nauseating black substance that smelled worse than a sewer. It was so bad that she was over 30ft away and she still had to hold her nose to keep from gagging, and of course Mars was flinging fire at it and cooking it.   
  
Behind her the Outers were fighting another of the monster with more success than they were having, but that was only because they had tossed accidentally blasted it into some kind of chemical that exploded when hit by their attacks. Mercury could have told her what it was, but she had been knocked unconscious by the blast as she was shouting out a warning.   
  
Venus was there as well, but she was laid out against one wall, her arm at an odd angle and bleeding from the beating she had taken when she had been attacked out of the blue. She had barely had time to send out the call for help before she was too involved in the fight to give details.  
  
"MOON GORGEOUS HEART ATTACK!!" Moon screamed out when she saw an opening.  
  
Her blast erupted forward and slammed into the monster Jupiter had just knocked over, it hit and sheared off most everything from the stomach up. Of course this was hardly a good thing since it some how managed to heal itself almost instantly. She figured that it had something to do with its liquid like body, even if it did stink. Mars and Jupiter sighed as it got back up and called up super charged versions of their first level abilities. they had been fighting for nearly an hour now and were running out of power. A BURNING MANDELA and a JUPITER THUNDER CRASH hit it and punched it through the wall.  
  
Jupiter groaned and fell to their knees as the monster oozed to what could be considered a standing condition. It burped as if laughing at them and swung its arms forward and through gallons of sludge at them. Jupiter and Mars dove to the side, but Moon was too slow and she was hit and hurled back into the Sailor Uranus and accidentally saved the short haired blonde from being hit as well. Though lucky, it also knocked Moon out and she collapsed to the floor next to Venus. Neptune distracted their monster while Uranus got to her feet and powered up another shot, she took the time to charge one as powerful as it could get and slammed her fist into the ground.  
  
The giant ball of energy ripped up the floor even as she fell to her knees in exhaustion. The blast hit the monster in its back and exploded. Liquid monster rained down around the area in a nasty smelling rain that hit everyone on the ground floor. The Scouts had got one of them, but they would need a bath to get rid of the smell, that is if they could take out the other one, it was using a whip of liquid to hit Mars across her face and send her flying into the wall with a scream of pain.   
  
A second whip surged out and grabbed Jupiter by her ankles and lifted her off the floor, spun her over it's head and used her like a club to hit Neptune as she tried to protect Uranus. Neptune pulled out her mirror and fired off one of her larger attacks, but the monster opened a hole in it's chest and let it fire though its body harmlessly. She screamed in frustration, these monsters were far more powerful than what they had been dealing with lately. It took a few precious seconds to calm down and get professional again, but when she did, she gasped.   
  
In that short amount of time, Jupiter had been freed by a girl in white armor and a cloak baring the Moon Kingdom symbol. She was standing over Moon as she sat the girl down gently and turned to look around the room. Neptune saw another girl, this one in a red outfit, walk out of the shadows emitting a red aura of power that washed over the area as she walked forward and stood beside Neptune.  
  
"It took out Mercury right away didn't it?"  
  
"Yes it did, how..."  
  
"...did I know? She is the only one of the Scouts that could freeze the thing and make it solid enough to do any damage."  
  
"We never had a chance to even try and wake her up, they attacked us as soon as we even considered it."  
  
"I have an ice beam attack that I can use, but it is no where as strong as Mercury's attack. Go wake her up and get her on her feet, she is the only one that can do what is needed here."  
  
"Who are you to give me orders?"  
  
"Me? I am the one that can kick your ass if you don't do what I say! Mercury is down and you need her and you are standing her arguing with me when you know I am right!" Nova snarled.  
  
"Oh please, go try and scare someone else."  
  
Nova shrugged. "Guardian Knight!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Go and wake up Mercury, the Outers are failing to comply with their orders to protect the Princess."   
  
"How dare you?!" Neptune growled.  
  
Nova vanished from in front of Neptune and appeared in the air, hovering in front of the monsters face with her left arm held forward. A beam of bright blue fired out and the entire factory was almost instantly filled with a chill as the thing nearly doubled in size as it froze solid. Guardian Knight shook her head as she tried to get Mercury to wake up and wondered just how she should go to do so.  
  
She also watched Neptune out of the corner of her eye and felt sorry for the girl, she was so obsessed with wearing that stupid outfit and was willing to kill anyone that got in her way to do her job. From what they had seen of the battle, Uranus was the same way and had deliberately placed her allies in the path of danger to make the monster give her a decent opening.   
  
Mercury stirred and blinked her eyes open to see a red headed girl in white kneeling beside her and shaking her. Not knowing what was going on she rolled to the side and hopped to her feet in a combat crouch she had learned. Her body hurt, but if this was a new enemy she wasn't going to...oh...it was that girl that helped them before. Mercury sighed and blushed at her mistake. "Um...sorry."  
  
Ranma laughed. "Good reflexes there, but a little slow, you need to practice a little more. Nova says you need kill the final monster."  
  
"Huh?" She asked and looked around. Her eyes went wide at the sight of nearly all the Scouts down, again. She noticed the still form of her best friend and gasped. "Sailor Moon!" She ran over to her friend and instantly stumbled back a few paces and gagged at the smell wafting off of her friend.  
  
"Sailor Mercury, I need you to fire off your strongest ice attack, I can't hold him to much longer!" Nova yelled out.  
  
Mercury turned and took in the situation and nodded as she remembered what she had been about to do before she had been knocked out. She ran forward and powered up, shouted out and fired off a massive blast of ice that turned the factory even colder as it was launched. Nova grinned as the monster finally shattered into billions of tiny fragments and cascaded across the floor.  
  
"Excellent work Mercury." Nova called out and gave her a thumbs up, making the girl blush.  
  
"Mercury we know nothing about her, for all we know she could be a spy or an assassin out for the Princess!" Neptune yelled.  
  
Nova shook her head and held the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Moron." She muttered.  
  
"She saved our lives Neptune." Mercury countered.  
  
"We don't know anything about her."  
  
"So what, we don't know anything about you girls either." Guardian Knight said as she knelt by Sailor Moon and Venus, Ranma had Venus' arm in her hands and was about to set the break. "Hold still Venus, I need to reset your arm for it to heal itself."  
  
The blonde sighed and nodded, gritting her teeth. The squeal of pain and crunch of bone was very loud in the empty and frozen factory, but it was over quickly and Venus sighed in relief as much of the pain disappeared. This of course set something else off as well and it caught Ranma by surprise. Neptune rushed forward and kicked her away from Venus and sent her flying into a nearby wall.  
  
"Neptune, would you have preferred it if we had let you die?!" Nova yelled out as she rushed over to Ranma. She was a little dazed and hadn't had time to do more than roll with the attack, there was a little blood running down her chin.   
  
"Neptune? Why is whenever we find someone that might be an ally you and the others always consider them to be enemies!?" Jupiter snapped.  
  
"We know nothing about them!"  
  
"They have saved out lives on several occasions already."  
  
"I don't care." Uranus said as she sat up. "They are keeping secrets and are going out of their way to provoke us, just like red here did at the meeting at the school."  
  
"I do not trust anyone I don't know anything about." Neptune said.  
  
"This is stupid, we have helped you out when you needed it and you say we are untrustworthy. No wonder Amy Lee is so mad at you. It seems she was right in seeking her revenge against you. I always thought she was going over board, but this reaction of yours borders on total paranoia. Let's go, they obviously don't need our help since they were winning before we got here." Guardian Knight yelled out.  
  
"I agree, I thought I was doing the right thing, but this..." Nova turned to leave, her aura flaring. Her and Guardian Knight soon disappeared out a window and made their way to the roof across the street.  
  
"Well that was a waste of time." Guardian Knight said.  
  
Amy grinned. "The Outers have always been that way, they used to be the guards that stopped all the attacks that happened from outside the solar system and they did it alone and usually won. They are dependent on no one and never will be, I think when they were reborn they were given similar attitudes as what they had before they initially died."  
  
"That explains a little of what just happened, am I to assume that we are not going to just leave them?"  
  
"Correct, I noticed that the Inners were trying to be a little nicer than Neptune and Uranus so I figure that they would be willing to allow us to help them."  
  
"That's what I noticed too."  
  
"Oh how cute, even after all that, you're still willing to help them." Said a very evil sounding voice from above them.  
  
Amy and Ranma spun around and looked up at the man floating above them. He was the one that they had only glimpsed on a couple of occasions before this. He was wearing a black and silver outfit complete with a cape that was fluttering in the wind. He had a highly focused black aura that was almost tangible in it's evil power. His eyes were blood red and there were several scars running down his face.  
  
"I believe I will start with you two since you are the ones that are keeping me from taking out the Scouts and for all your power you are no match for me." He laughed, evil villain laugh #126(you are so dead). He held his hand out and black lightning formed around his arm and fired at them even as they were jumping to the side. Seconds later the entire building was vaporized in a giant explosion that continued out ward, leveling most of the building around it.  
  
"I am Zepher and you two are going to pay for messing up my plans."  
  
  
  
There was rubble for thousands of feet in every direction, twisted girders sticking up out of some of the larger mounds and smoke rising into the sky from the giant fire that was raging. In one spot the rubble shifted and was moved aside from underneath and a body pulled itself from its tomb of crushed concrete. She gasped for air as she stood up, her red armor was decimated and her red cape had been ripped off of her to leave a tiny piece that remained to flutter in the weak wind.  
  
It was hard to breath she realized, she must have some broken ribs and possible a punctured lung. She looked around and noticed Ranma pulling herself out of a small hole nearby, they hobbled over to each other. "Are you alright?" They said in unison and giggled, though Ranma looked around nervously.  
  
"My powers are healing me as we speak, but it will be a while yet before I can do much, I don't know if we have all that much time." Nova said.  
  
"I managed to get to cover before I was in to much danger, but that blast was far stronger than I would have liked."  
  
"The Sailors deal with beings like this all the time, but this the first time I can remember the enemy ever showing this much power so early in the game."  
  
"Do you feel that?" Guardian Knight asked suddenly and started to look around.  
  
"Yeah, it's coming from over there." Amy pointed to their right. "I can feel the Scouts over there too. I think they're fighting it."  
  
"Can you tell which ones?"  
  
"It feels like all of them, I am even picking up Cape Boy and he doesn't show up all that often any more."  
  
"Cape Boy?"  
  
"Huh...oh, Tuxedo Mask if I remember right, I had a fight with him the first time I encountered the Scouts."  
  
"Oh yeah, that guy you were telling me about that...snicker...throws red roses like one would throwing spikes?"  
  
"That's him, lets get over there and see if we can help out."  
  
"But your injuries..."  
  
"Are will be almost gone by the time we get there, most everything can be fixed in a matter of minutes if I am not out of energy or in several pieces."  
  
"Oh..."  
  
"This situation is coming to a head, I can feel it, we need to power up."  
  
Ranma grinned, "I've been looking forward to this."  
  
"I agree, I need an opponent that can put up a fight and this Zepher seems to be a good match."  
  
"Can I go first?"  
  
"Sure, I hogged the spot light in the factory and you haven't been able to do anything major yet have you?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Hey now, don't look hurt, I just keep stumbling over them..."  
  
"I don't believe a word your saying." Ranma said with grumpy look.  
  
"Okay, okay lets go and have some fun with the super powered bad guy and work off our stress okay?"  
  
Ranma was gone before Amy could finish the sentence and she looked around in confusion, then she spotted her flying away from her in a column of blue power. "Hey!" She yelled and launched after her, a grin plastered to her face.  
  
Within a few minutes they both landed and ran the last few hundred feet on foot and managed to get a good look at the battle scene. By this time all of the Scouts except for Venus and of course Pluto was fighting Zepher as he floated above them, blasting them as they got close. Amy spotted Moon and Venus sprawled out across a large slab of stone, both heavily wounded.  
  
"The Princess in down." Guardian Knight said quietly.  
  
"So is Venus and the rest of the Scouts look like they are in pretty bad shape."  
  
"Why haven't they retreated?"  
  
"They will fight to the bitter end if need be."  
  
"I didn't think they had it in them."  
  
"You didn't?"  
  
"Well, the Outers would, but I've had the most contact with the Inners and they tend to be a little flightily from what I've seen of them so far. Those few days we followed them around gave me a rather low opinion of them."  
  
"Heh, yeah I can understand that. It's still a little hard to believe that those girls are the Scouts, but it does make a great secret identity though."  
  
"What do think of Zepher so far?"  
  
"He is strong, but to dependent on his powers. He seems to use them for everything from flying to attacking."  
  
"...lets go and help them." Ranma said.  
  
"Right, but lets circle around the area and come at him from the sides, then let you have him from there."  
  
Amy took off running and made her way across the devastation, all the while keeping her eyes on the battle. There was something wrong here, but she couldn't put her finger on what it was. It took her about 3 minutes to get into position, bus she saw that Ranma-chan was in place. The waved at each other and powered up for several seconds and yelled out their attacks.  
  
"NOVA CANNON!"  
  
"KNIGHT SLATHER HERALD!"  
  
The Scouts took advantage of the attack to add their own in by yelling...  
  
"JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"  
  
"MERCURY AQUA RHAPSODY!"  
  
"URANUS SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  
  
"NEPTUNE SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"  
  
"TUXEDO MASK BOMBER!"  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"  
  
The timing was perfect and Zepher was hit with enough power to level a small city. Zepher screamed and was thrown into what was left of one building. Mercury pulled her mini-computer out and began to type as fast as she could, but she soon went pale and gasped. "He is still alive under all that, we did hurt him though, but I can't tell how much."  
  
"What happened to the Princess? Was it the initial blast or this Zepher?" Guardian Knight asked as she came up.  
  
"She was hurt trying to protect Venus when the first blast went off, we managed to survive thanks to Saturn, but she was taken out as well. She is either d-dead or buried under all this rubble. She appeared just after you left and threw up a protective dome just as it hit."  
  
"How did she know?"  
  
"We have no idea how she was able to just appear like that and help us, I really hope she is not d-dead."  
  
"I doubt it, you Scouts are really hard to kill and are all experienced fighters." Though Ranma had to bite her tongue to keep a remark about their Fuku from coming out.  
  
"Where is your friend Guardian Knight?" Neptune snarled.  
  
Ranma blinked. "What is wrong with you? We are trying to help you and you keep trying to get rid of us."  
  
"I don't trust you!" Uranus yelled.  
  
"..." Ranma frowned. He could understand some of them not liking Amy, she had been harassing them lately, but this was more than simple distrust it seemed to be some kind of blind hatred. None of these girls even knew that Amy was Nova, and yet they were treating her the same way. Why? His thoughts were interrupted by Zepher digging himself out of the destroyed building. He stood up, popped his neck and stretched his back as he dusted his black and silver uniform off.   
  
"That actually hurt."  
  
Ranma stepped forward, "It was supposed to you moron." She kneeled down and picked up a small piece of black cloth and held it up. "Ah, look at this we managed to ruin his shirt."  
  
Zepher growled at the irritating tone in the girl's voice, he threw his arm forward and fired off a blast of energy. Ranma vanished even as his arm was moving, a smirk on her face as she reappeared beside him surrounded in a giant aura of blue energy. She kicked him in the knee and punched him across the jaw as he fell, sending him into the dirt again.  
  
"You bitch, you are going to pay for that!"  
  
"Oh pwease don't hurt me Mr. Bwad man, my mommy will be oh so upset." Ranma lisped in a childish tone.  
  
Zepher rolled to his feet and jumped at Ranma screaming in fury and barely noticed as Ranma smiled evilly and copied his attack, they met in a rush of pure speed, exploding into a series of kicks and punches. Seeing an opening Zepher fired off a blast and gasped as his shot went through an image of Ranma that was slowly dissolving in the air. The air exploded out of him as she rammed her knee into his stomach, elbowed him across the chin and grabbed his wrist as her aura flared up again.  
  
With a mighty heave Zepher was lifted off the ground and body slammed into a nearby pile of rubble. He screamed in pain as something pierced his side, but he had to suddenly roll off of whatever it was as the girl brought her hands together and yelled out "Möko Takabisha!" A wave of blue energy enveloped the rubble where he had been and exploded. Zepher fired back, but she dodged it easily.   
  
Who the hell were these girls, they were far stronger than any of the other Scouts, were better trained, and had enough brains to plan ahead. The pain in his side was proof of that, they were a better challenge than any of the Sailor Scouts, but he had an ace up his sleeve and was willing to use it if need be. Zepher came up and laughed at his red headed opponent.  
  
"Well red, I am impressed. I did not expect to get such a good fight out of you."  
  
"Heh, that's why you're bleeding right?" Ranma grinned.  
  
"My body is already healing this minor damage, but you have earned a rare thing this day. I want a challenge from you before I kill you and I plan to get it." With that Zepher began to power up and his aura went from a grayish black to pure black, an evil grin on his face.  
  
Ranma copied his movements and powered up both her magic and her Ki aura, exploding in a blinding blue radiance that vaporized the rubble around her for several feet. The Scouts, who had backed off to tend to their wounded were shocked at the amount of power being displayed.   
  
The blue haired Scout was gaping at the information on her computer, only Sailor Moon had ever shown powers stronger than this and that was when she had gone up against the Dark Kingdom to defeat Metalia. If Sailor Moon was awake she knew that they could win with the Silver Crystal, but this Guardian Knight seemed to have the power to hold her own against super powered foes.  
  
"You don't stand as a chance against me little girl." Zepher said.  
  
"This little girl just kicked your ass, Zeph-chan." Ranma said cutely.  
  
"Why you..." Zepher's pure black aura surged even higher as he grew more and more angry.  
  
"As a matter of fact, I think this shouldn't last all that long, your not that strong compared to me."  
  
"CHAOS WAVE!" Zepher yelled and brought his hand forward, a black vapor seemed to spring up around the area, and waves of dark power fired out. Ranma's aura flared and sent out it's own waves that crashed with Zepher's attack and canceled it out. Glaring at each other, Zepher and Guardian Knight flashed forward and came together with a sonic boom. To the Scouts it looked like they had vanished from sight, only to reappear in small flashes of light before vanishing again.   
  
The sight stirred memories for all of them, but Jupiter was actually the most affected. She started to recall portions of her past life that she had totally forgotten about, her training and life before she was forced to become a Scout and protect the Princess. Mercury also remembered something, but was to shocked to react as thousands of images entered her mind and overwhelmed her. For the others it was more awe than anything else, the Outers were an entirely different story all together and they ran off when they caught something nearby.  
  
For Ranma, she was hopping around like a frog on a hot plate as Zepher fired off blast after blast, demolishing the entire area. She dodged, taunted him, weaved, taunted him, and fired back every now and then. They were flying in a circle, crashing into each other every few milliseconds, but in the end Zepher fell into Ranma's trap as so many other had. She stopped and relaxed just feet from him and grinned evilly, just enough to make him pause, and look confused as she seemed to throw her arm in the air for not particular reason.   
  
"HIRYU SHOTEN HA!"  
  
The effect was more than any of them were expecting, Ranma included. There was a deafening rush of air as the giant tornado formed and pulled Zepher into the sky, slowly beating the crap out of him with his own power. Ranma stood at the bottom and used her Ki to lift and hurl large chunks of broken buildings into the funnel.   
  
Zepher was at the winds mercy and he flared his aura to full power in an attempt to gain control, but only succeeded in making the attack more powerful. The rest of his power was sucked out of him and this in turn made the tornado grow out to giant propositions.  
  
The Scouts grabbed the wounded and headed for cover while Ranma stared in awe at what she had created. Never had the attack gotten this big before, even against Hopposai in full 'I will have my revenge' mode. Then Ranma was hit from behind by a piece of stone and lost her concentration, the blast lost its focus and surged.   
  
Ranma shook herself awake just as she was lifted into the funnel and thrown into the sky, she screamed for a second in surprise, but clamped up when she saw her target being pummeled by all that debris she had sent into the funnel. She pulled in her aura so that she wouldn't add any fuel to the fire, bounced off some debris and attacked Zepher without pity.  
  
*********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	14. Strange Days13 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 13  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
About a half mile away from the main battle, Amy Lee was making her way across the ruins when she spotted something at the edge of her senses. She had been so distracted lately she had forgotten about that little patch of nothingness that had been following her around, but now she had time to take a much better look at it she was able get a reading on its power signature.   
  
Whatever it was, she was going to have to make sure they stopped following her around, she had much better things to than deal with something like this. She watched it for several seconds, not caring in the least if something inside it saw her watching it. Nor was she disappointed when it suddenly surged with power and moved faster than she could keep track it.   
  
Her eyes narrowed as she increased her power a tiny bit and continued to watch the area with all her senses. Then there was a barely registered sound from behind her and she dropped into a quick roll, moving to the side just before the ground where she had been standing exploded violently.   
  
Rock and debris rained around the area as Amy came to her feet, the shock wave of the blast washed over her and nearly blew her off her feet at the exact same time. Dust tended to stay in the air for several minutes after it was stirred up, so she wasn't able to see much of anything at first.  
  
Then a form appeared as it started to walk out of the dust cloud, Amy gasped as she saw just who it was that had attacked her. It was someone that she hadn't thought about in a long time now, she had been to busy with other things to even worry about some of the other enemies she had made during her stay in this dimension, her enemy was Shampoo.   
  
She was dressed in a white, form fitting armor, and covered in items of power attached to her body in several places. The aura coming from most of them was enough to make Amy consider the purple haired girl a serious threat. She had never considered that the Amazons might have this many magical items in their hidden vaults, if she had Amy figured she might have borrowed some of them by now.   
  
  
  
Shampoo wasn't carrying her bonbori either, instead she seemed to have an entire arsenal of weapons on her, all of it giving off a magical aura. Amy sighed, Cologne must have decided to make sure her granddaughter had a better chance to beat her.   
  
Amazons must kill outsiders if they are of the same sex and beat them in combat, how such a stupid law could have come into existence was beyond Amy`s understanding. Amy looked Shampoo over and sighed tiredly, why did she have to go to these lengths for something that she had cause in the first place. There was a look in Shampoo's eyes that promised that her death would be as slow as possible, this was surprise considering what Amy did know about Shampoo.   
  
She had been under the impression that most Amazons were not this murderous, Cologne certainly hadn't seemed this bad the last time they had talked. Then again, the Amazons were still a primitive society; she growled and decided that she had to deal with this like Ranma would. She could not kill even if it seemed to be the best way to end this mess. It would alter the balance that she was trying to preserve. Ranma's code of ethics was rubbing off on her.  
  
  
  
Amy sighed and shook her head. "Shampoo, do we have to do this?"  
  
"Shampoo kill girl who is taking husband, Shampoo kill girl who took Shampoo honor and pride as an Amazon. Use magic to fight magic."  
  
"Shampoo I don't want to hurt you, but I will fight back if you continue this, please just back down and neither one of us have to get hurt."  
  
"Shampoo kill outsider who steal husband."  
  
"I haven't taken Ranma from you Shampoo, he wouldn't respond to me even if I tried to, he's as dense as stone when it comes to that kind of stuff. We are only friends."  
  
"You lie! Shampoo watch and see how he act around you."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Ranma like you better than all of us, he isn't rude and abusive, he doesn't run from you when you are around. He doesn't insult you like he does stupid Pervert Girl or Spatula Girl, he laughs and plays with you. He is closer to you than all of us combined."  
  
"We are only friends Shampoo."  
  
"You lie."  
  
Shampoo's voice was hollow and Amy could see that her aura was once again infested with large amount of black, but this time they were growing more powerful by the second. This was bad, Amy knew she could hold her own against Shampoo easily in regular combat, but she had been training with Cologne lately and her influence was showing. Amy's thoughts were derailed as Shampoo surged forward, her sword appeared in her hand for a slash and pierce attack that would remove her head and split her heart in twain if it hit.  
  
Amy hopped backwards to avoid the sword, but Shampoo turned it into a feint and did a round house kick to her head. This hit Amy in the chin and sent her sprawling, but she rolled to her feet again and was instantly on the defensive as the purple haired girl pressed the attack at ever faster and faster speeds. Amy backpedaled and analyzed Shampoo as she attacked with an almost silent and deadly accuracy that was simply amazing, her hollow eyes were a dead give away.   
  
The darkness and those magical items were controlling her in some way. Amy's magic senses were picking up the fact that over half of the medals and trinkets on her armor were glowing with power, but the dead and glazed look in the purple haired girl's eyes were almost frightening. Amy wondered what that old bat had done to her own grand daughter to bring her to this state, had it been done willingly?!  
  
This kind of control also meant that the poor girl would give no mercy in this battle and it would be up to Amy to defeat her or die trying, there had to be some way out of this mess without one of them dieing. Amy was brought back to the battle as Shampoo suddenly blurred from sight and slammed several hundred punches through her defenses like it was nothing.   
  
Amy cried out in shock and pain as she stumbled back, and jumped back nearly a hundred feet and let her aura flare forth and finally allowing herself to power up a little more. That was something more than a simple Amagurikan attack, the speed had been nearly triple the speed Amy had been expecting.  
  
"Okay Shampoo, you asked for it." Amy growled and prepared to take Shampoo down as quickly as possible, but then a blast of pink energy slammed into her from the side.   
  
Amy's eyes widened as she found herself in the center of a super powerful explosion, only her armor and aura protected her from it and even then she could feel it. Whatever it was the explosion leveled what was left of the area around her, but the blast itself was enough of a shock that it vaporized most of her Nova armor and left her in a shredded shirt and pants that barely covered her modesty.   
  
Her identity as Nova vanished and left only Amy Lee in it's wake, but this barely registered to Amy though, she was in a bit of shock. A portion of her mind suddenly wondered how Shampoo had known who she was, had the been around even then? Amy couldn't remember ever feeling the presence when she transformed, but she had been a bit busy at the time.  
  
"What the hell is going on here?" Amy cursed under her breath as she lowered her arms and looked around cautiously.  
  
"Why it is time for you to die so that I can remove your presence from the time line, demon. You have managed to wreck nearly all of my carefully crafted plans in just a matter of weeks." Cackled an obviously insane voice. "For that you will die, maybe then I can get everything back on track again."  
  
It was Pluto, the one Scout that Amy hadn't encountered yet, but she could see that there was something wrong with the woman. In just the few seconds that she had to study Pluto, Amy could see that she was looking...a little evil. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bottomless black pits, her Fuku was actually dirty and the smell wafting off of her was enough to drop a dog at 20 paces.   
  
Amy kept her shock at the woman's appearance to herself and looked the poor girl over with her aura sight, Pluto was swathed in colors, but the silver of her goodness and black of evil seemed to be waging a war all around her, there was something else there as well. Amy had no clue what it was, but she knew she had never encountered anything like this and briefly wondered if she was the cause as well, her presence seemed to be directly linked to most everyone around her an effected everyone in different ways.  
  
Then reality intruded and Amy was reminded of Shampoo as the girl's sword came down out of no where and bit into Amy's shoulder, making her scream in agony. Amy went down and was able to see both Shampoo and Pluto flare up with dark power and fire off blasts of energy, further confusing Amy. Pluto simply aimed and fired her staff while Shampoo's fired out of her sword. Amy had a split second to see the energy ripping the ground apart as it moved toward here and instinct took over, she leaped straight up and used the concussion wave of the blast to push herself into the sky.   
  
Pluto's screech of anger surprised Amy, but she shoved it to the side as she flared her aura back up and flew higher into the sky, she stopped 200 feet above the girls. She checked her shoulder carefully and saw that it was bleeding heavily, but already starting to.  
  
"What the hell happened to these two?" Amy muttered. This was far worse than what had happened before. This wasn't just out of control behavior anymore. It was on a whole new level of destruction and hate. Then Amy watched as Shampoo did something, she wasn't sure what, but knew it wouldn't be very good.  
  
Shampoo crouched down and glared at Amy, said something under her breath and jumped into the sky. Amy tensed as she rose nearly half the distance towards her, flared with energy of some kind, and started to fly. Whatever had happened to these two was doing a fine job of controlling them. Amy could barely recognize them as who they used to be. Dropping into free fall, Amy engaged Shampoo by firing a blast of red energy at her that was easily dodged. Amy, trained for fighting in the air like this by Ranma, flowed into her attack.  
  
Both girl's slammed together with an explosion of energy, they spent the next several minutes trading blows and flying all over the sky. Amy had decided to abandon all sense of caution. Shampoo was just too strong for her to even think of it. Sure Amy knew she could have simply killed the girl, but that was the last thing she would do, but Shampoo had been increased so much that it was quickly becoming the only option.   
  
They blurred from sight for a split second, setting off a sonic boom, they reappeared above the ground a few dozen yards from Pluto, though they barely noticed as they fought. Amy used her momentum to grab and body slams Shampoo across a fallen wall. Pluto didn't care about being fair and used Amy's attack to fire off her own. Luckily Amy looked up just in time see it and vanished just as the attack slammed into Shampoo's prone body. Amy bounced off a nearby wall and rose into the air, she brought her hands around and fired off a `NOVA CANNON` attack.   
  
Her attack slammed into Pluto just as she was about to fire off another `Dead Scream' and sent her flying back to sprawl into the dust, Amy landed nearby and glared at the woman. Off her right she could see Shampoo glowing as she crawled to her feet, Amy shook her head in amazement at the arsenal of magic the girl was using to fight her.   
  
It had been a long time since she had fought a battle like this, one where she dared not kill anyone. She knew she had to wear them both down before they would be vulnerable to certain things, that was going to take awhile because they just had far too much magic available to them. There was a tingle on Amy's neck and she spun around just in time to see Neptune and Uranus running towards them.   
  
Oh, this was all I need, Amy thought to herself. Her hands were tied and she could not either kill of them, yet they had no such thing holding them back. She really wanted to kill them too, it was time to change the rules. Amy blurred and vanished before the Outer Scouts could get a bead on her, but reappeared about 500 feet away with her aura flaring around her. She crouched down and used her will power to focus her power to the next level, she didn't like going above a certain level in power because there was price to pay.   
  
That price was usually paid in lots and lots of pain, the increased power would rip her body to pieces if she wasn't careful. The ground rumbled as she powered up, rocks and dust rose into the sky and everything around here seemed to turn blood red even as her eyes started to glow. Her hair started to shift under the power of the aura and even the weakest willed Ki users would have felt the skyrocketing power.  
  
It was over a few seconds later as Amy stood in the middle of an expanding circle of dust, she was floating a few inches off the ground with her eyes glowed an angry red and a smirk on her face. Pluto looked confused, the others all looked like she had put on a show and didn't care. Amy's hands were spread out to the sides as she hovered there and two long sword like bars of red light extended towards the ground and humming loudly.   
  
Uranus and Neptune didn't hesitate to attack and threw out several blasts, but Amy's swords came up and deflected each attack to the side as it came at her. Pluto got over her confusion and did the same, but her attack had the same luck.  
  
The oldest scout stood there for several seconds, the hatred on her face obvious to all. Then she screamed and a black aura of power sprang up around Pluto and she leveled her staff at Amy and grinned evilly. "ULTIMATE DEAD SCREAM!" She yelled. Her staff flared with black lightning and fired off a massive ball of power. It flew out and vaporized everything in it's path, Uranus and Neptune were blown back several yards as the powerful blast rocketed past them.  
  
Amy, watched impassively as the giant ball of black lightning traveled towards her. Still floating in the air, she flashed to the side and ignored the destruction of the somewhat intact building at the very edge of the ruins as Pluto's attack hit it. Amy could also now tell that this was the same type of power that Zepher had used to level the area, what the hell was going on here? Pluto was trying to remove her because she thought there was a threat to Crystal Tokyo, wasn't she? The same type of energy meant that Pluto was working for the other side didn't it? Amy's eyes narrowed and she looked a little deeper into Pluto's aura. It would need to be prodded a little though.  
  
"Pluto, call off the Outers or I will do more than dodge." Amy said quietly.  
  
Giggle. "Why should I do that? With you dead everything goes back to normal."  
  
"Not until all the dark power is sent away Pluto."  
  
"Your the cause, no more problems when you are gone."  
  
Amy spotted the Inners heading in their direction, behind them she could see a massive battle going on between Ranma and Zepher. Of the Inners, Mars and Venus were missing, the others were all there and conscious. Then she spotted Tux Boy, he must have had the day off from collage or something, she thought to herself. Then there was the other problem, Shampoo was stalking towards her again, having finally recovered enough to continue the battle. Uranus and Neptune finally caught up to Pluto and stood beside her as they both glared at Amy.  
  
"I recognize you now. You're that bitch that hit us with that weird attack the other day." Uranus growled.  
  
"Want to go through it again, its strength depends on how much power I am focusing at the time. It should be enough to make you into raging hentai's for several days at this level. Just imagine chasing guys around campus all day trying to steal their underwear so you can `play` with them?" Amy grins lustfully.  
  
"You are going to die for what you did to us." Neptune says coldly.  
  
"As if I've actually hurt any of you." Amy snaps out sarcastically.  
  
"Please stop this senseless fighting, we need to fight Zepher and help Guardian Knight. We also need to find Nova, she is missing." Sailor Moon said and managed to actually look worried.  
  
Before anyone can even decide what to do, Shampoo jumps into the air and comes down right in front of Amy, her sword out and flying to cut and slash. Amy blinks at Shampoo increased speed and hops back, she brings her own energy blades up and deflects Shampoo's attack in a shower of red and black sparks as the blades meet. This hadn't happened in their earlier fight, so Amy figured that the darkness in Shampoo had started to grow out of control.   
  
Growling, Amy increases her speed and leaves after images of herself as she deflects Shampoo's blades. Then two then start to move away from the others, the swirl of steel and red energy is all that can be seen of them as they battle. Sailor Moon and the others look confused. They don't understand why this strange girl attacked Amy. Then the unexpected happens, Pluto giggles and fires another ball of black lightning out of her staff right into the two battling girls.  
  
"No!" Mercury and Jupiter yell out in shock.  
  
Sailor Moon has all of a second to gasp in shock as she witnesses one of her friends brazenly kill someone in cold blood. The blast is pretty extreme and sends a shock wave out that destroys even more of the area and leaves a forty foot wide crater in its wake. The Scouts are blasted off their feet and can only stare in shock as Pluto fires several more blasts into the hole, to make sure, Uranus and Neptune grin evilly as they also take the opportunity to fire out some attacks as well.  
  
"What have you done..."Sailor Moon gasps.  
  
"The time line is now secure, the evil is dead, dead, DEAD." Pluto says in her high and mighty voice, but it's ruined by the insane grin on her face. She vanished back into the time stream a few seconds later with a flick of her wrist.  
  
"That's one problem down, now let's go and take out Zepher." Uranus says happily, she and Neptune run off towards the battle off in the distance.  
  
"What are we going to do Sailor Moon?" Mercury asks.  
  
"I..."  
  
"Do you think she was strong enough to survive that? She was a pain in the ass, but she didn't deserve that."  
  
"Mercury, can you scan the area and tell if she survived?"  
  
Mercury pulls out her computer and scans the area for several seconds, and frowns. "This is weird."  
  
"What did you find?" Jupiter asks.  
  
"She seems to be alive, but her energy signature is a acting weird."  
  
"She's alive?" Gasps Moon.  
  
Mercury looks at the still smoking crater and points at it. "She is at the very bottom of that mess, but her energy signature is almost nonexistent one second and then back to were it was while she was fighting that girl."  
  
"Can we get her out of there?" Moon asks.  
  
"Well..." Mercury begins, but is interrupted by a large explosion in the distance and all of their communicators going off.  
  
"What's up?" Jupiter asks into hers.  
  
"We need help here. Guardian knight was holding out against the bad guy and had actually just defeated him. Then the Outers appeared and fired at her just as Zepher's was taken out permanently and started firing on her. Guardian Knight took the brunt of the blasts and is hurt, the Outers are now fighting the whatever it was that took over for Zepher and are losing pretty badly, me and Venus are helping, but with Knight out of this..." Mars says.  
  
"Have any of you seen that other girl, Nova?"  
  
"She seems to have vanished completely. She may be dead from the initial blast since she was apparently at the very center of it."   
  
"Then were in deep sh..." There is an explosion and the screen goes blank just as the ground around them rumbles. The Scouts gape at the giant column of smoke rising into the sky from where Mars was calling from.  
  
"Those Outers are beginning to get on my nerves." Moon says.  
  
"Wh-what?" Gasps Mercury, she can't ever recall a time when Moon was actually mad at any of them.  
  
"We keep getting close to winning when they show up and start attacking everything in sight that isn't a Scout. How can we win if we can't trust the allies that show up occasionally, we aren't the only super powered group in all the world." Sailor Moon says. "Their not all enemies, we have to trust some of them."  
  
"Agreed." Mercury and Jupiter say at the same time. "What do we do about Amy?"  
  
Moon looks down at the carter and frowns. "Leave her, we have to take care of that monster first, then we can worry about her. You said she was alive and with those healing powers of hers she should be alright."  
  
Mercury nods. She is once again shocked by how her friend can be a complete idiot at one point and a decent leader the next. "Then let's get back over to Mars and Venus, things will get out of hand soon if we don't bring the Outers under control in some way."  
  
"Right."  
  
They turn around take off back towards the fight they had just left and are soon to far away from the crater to see it's center shift and a form rise out of the destruction. What little dust that is in the air wafts away suddenly as Amy slowly stands and waves her hand, her whole body hurt in places she hadn't touched in years.   
  
There is a flash of black lightning and an old man appears at the edge, he looks down at the two bodies below and smiles at Amy as she notices him. Several smaller demons drop in around the hole and spread their various wing like appendages while the old man hops down to Amy and grabs her by the throat and lifts her up off the ground. She is too weak to much of anything, not even put up a decent resistance.  
  
"You just continue to surprise me Amy, there doesn't seem to be a limit to the amount of resistance you will put up, is there?" The old man growls out, but Amy is unable to respond as his hand clenches on her throat and cuts off her air completely. Her eyes do crack open and she pales at the sight of the old man. "How can you survive this kind of punishment, your powers were cut off almost totally when you were sent to this world. You should have barely enough to live, let alone fight like this."  
  
Amy grinned, her eyes unfocused and croaked out her answer. "You are t-to dependent on your m-magic."  
  
"I am all powerful, bitch. I beat you as easily as I have anyone else that has ever dared to attack me."  
  
Amy giggled, painfully. "You found one of the f-few weakness that my powers have and used it against me, you old fucker. You sure as hell didn't beat me like you think, just damaged and used my body."  
  
He clamps his hand and cuts off Amy's air as his eyes flare with black electricity, the smaller demons around them howl excitedly. "Answer me or you die right now, you only live at my sufferance bitch."  
  
"I am a World Guardian. Do you think I'm dependent on only one form of power or magic to survive? I h-had to learn how they all worked before I could even become a regular fighter, it t-took years to do it and earn my position you idiot." Amy gasped out, clawing his hands.  
  
"I blocked all your major powers when I broke you, there is no way you could have done something like this!"  
  
"Heheheheh...you didn't do a good enough job asshole. SPLIT BREAK!" Amy yelled, and vanished out of the old man's hand.  
  
"What the...?"  
  
"We'll meet again." Amy's voice seems to echo around him.  
  
"It just might be sooner than you think, bitch."  
  
The old man growls and vanishes in a wave of power and the little demons vanish with him. All is quiet as the dust finally starts to settle, leaving a lone body in the crater, broken and bloodied almost beyond recognition. One of Shampoo's magical items begins to glow for a second and she vanishes in a flash of light.  
  
**********  
  
A few minutes before...  
  
Ranma was beginning to feel like he was in a Dragon Ball anime as he fought Zepher. They had been going at it like crazed killers for nearly twenty minutes now and all he had managed to do was bruise his knuckles and get slammed into the ground a few times. Of course he was giving as good as he got and had sent the jerk into the ground a time or to himself. Currently they were glaring at each other while floating about two hundred feet above the ground, Ranma glowed a bright blue and Zepher a deep black.  
  
"It seems that even with this newfound strength you are no match for me girl, give it up."  
  
"I never give up asshole, you are going down."  
  
"Yeah right, nothing you've tried has worked yet. You and these Scouts are as good as dead, none of you will be alive to witness the coming awakening of this planet."  
  
"I think I'll put you to sleep instead, it would be a relief on my ears not to have to listen to your voice anymore. Don't get me started on how ugly you are..." Ranma said, shuddering.  
  
Zepher flared up in anger and fired out blast of black lightning, but Ranma vanished long before it hit. They had played this game several times already and had started to get a good idea of how the other fought and reacted. Zepher decided to alter the pattern and sent out a wave of black electricity in all directions, this caught Ranma cold.   
  
She was just above, behind, and to the right of Zepher getting ready to attack when he did this. The electricity worked like high voltage lines and had him screaming as she fell out of the sky and plowed into the ground, again. Gritting her teeth in pain, she rolled to his feet and fired off a blast of energy, but Zepher blocked it as easily as he had the others.  
  
"This is getting old, do something interesting little fly, there doesn't seem to much you can do to me anyway." Zepher taunted, he grinned evilly when Ranma glared up at him.  
  
Ranma cursed and dug for more power as she jumped at Zepher, who was laughing at her. Instead of counter attacking with that electric wave again, Zepher met her head on and they were soon trading blows at speeds that broke the sound barrier. Their battle ranged all over the place as they fought and counter attacked, partially destroyed buildings were leveled as Ranma cursed under her breath. She was losing and didn't know what to do, she briefly considered using the Final Attack, but decided against it. The Scouts were still in danger and if she quit the rest of the planet was doomed.  
  
Then an idea came to Ranma as she landed in a relative open area and stood ready for his attack. Zepher fired off several blasts that Ranma dodged and flipped over as he flew right at her. She relaxed as he got within fifteen feet and waited for the final blow to fall.   
  
The look of delight and evil glee on his face was visible to anyone that was looking. Zepher raised his hand and brought his fist down to crush her skull. His fist was an inch from her skull when she shifted and split into two identical girls, they smirked as they instantly started to attacked him. Zepher knew that one of them had to be a fake, but which one?  
  
That was all the distraction Ranma needed as his hand glowed with power and suddenly lashed out and slashed through Zepher's throat like a hot knife through butter. Ranma had noticed early in the battle that the bastard was regenerating smaller wound and able to shrug off bigger ones in just a few seconds, but Ranma had a feeling that the more damaging the wound, the longer it took to heal and this was a fatal one. She didn't give him a chance to even try as she brought out her swords out of subspace and yelled "KNIGHT SLATHER HERALD!"  
  
Zepher screamed as he was split almost completely in half from just above his crotch to above his head, and a wave of dark power enveloped him shot up into the sky. Ranma brought her swords around and fired a second time and cut the asshole into several pieces that swirled into dust, she watched this impassively as she sank to her knees. She had nothing left as she sat there gasping for air, behind him he could feel the Scouts heading in her direction and was glad there was someone that could take over is something unexpected happened.   
  
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  
  
"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"  
  
"Wha...?" Was all Ranma had to get out as she was blasted in the back, she screamed as her armor was vaporized in the duel attack and lost consciousness as she landed at a stunned Sailor Mars' feet, smoke wafting off her damaged body. Mars was to shocked to speak and could only look on as Uranus and Neptune sauntered up, as if they expected to be thanked for killing the one that had just saved their bacon.  
  
"What the hell do you thing your doing?!" Venus yelled as she ran over to Ranma to check her out. She was a little surprise to find her still breathing, the wounds to her body were pretty bad though and it would only be a matter of time before she breathed her last.  
  
"This girl and that other red headed bitch are working together. The other one beat me and Neptune up the other day. They are playing you girls for fools. They are out to destroy us and the Princess. We will make sure that doesn't happen and with all three of these meddling idiots out of way things are safe again." Uranus snapped.  
  
She ground to a halt as evil laughter filled the air and they all looked up to see an old man hovering in the air, little wisps of hair sticking up at odd angles and evil red eyes flared like twin novas. "Hello ladies, especially Uranus and Neptune here, your doing a fine job working for me and I need to repay you for that. The two of you have managed to kill or stop two of the three girls on this planet that had even a slight chance of defeating me and my men."   
  
"Who the hell are you?" Yelled Mars.  
  
"You may call me Master."  
  
The two Inner and Outers looked at each other and attacked as one, firing off blasts at the same time.  
  
"SPACE SWORD BLASTER!"  
  
"SUBMARINE REFLECTION!"  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!"  
  
"VENUS LOVE AND BEAUTY SHOCK!"  
  
Everything hit him right in the chest and exploded with enough force to blow the girls off their feet, but they scrambled back up and gasped as Master continued to live. He wasn't even damaged, his clothing wasn't singed or cut, and there was no blood or visible damage anywhere on him. He was now surrounded in a large sphere of black electricity that had smaller bolts arching into his body as all that power was converted to energy to give him more power. "That was truly pathetic. Is this the best you can do? That girl who just killed Zepher would have been a better challenge. After all she used her hands and feet to fight instead of depending in her powers like you losers do."  
  
"Well, Master, lets see what you have in the way of hand to hand then. I am the best fighter here and will be more than happy to fight you." Uranus smirked and said in a condescending voice.  
  
His sphere of electricity flared and fired a bolt of power at the Outers and the battle was on. They dodged and moved in to attack as the old man showed off dexterity far above someone his age. Mars pulled out her communicator as Venus tended to the charred body of Guardian Knight, even with all that damage the dammed disguise field was still working.  
  
"The others are on there way Venus."  
  
"Can Moon get here in time to help us stop this guy?"  
  
"I hope so, this guy is a lot stronger than the one GK here took out."  
  
"True, but his time Moon is conscious and ready to let loose with the crystal."  
  
"She is also mad at the Outers there, should we even help them?"  
  
"Sure, they may not help us all that often, but we are apart of the same team."  
  
"Like the Outers even care about that...lets go!" Mar's yelled just as Neptune was back handed and was blown back in wave of black electricity, her body wobbling in the air as she passed over head. Master's evil grin sent a chill down their spines even as he took out Uranus with a boot to the head. She collapsed on the spot, out cold.  
  
"That was pathetic, I can't believe you girl's defeated all those other dark powers. I might as well put you girl's out of you misery just to save you pain and embarrassment as I pick you apart, just for the fun I will have doing it." He pulled a large cigar out of his coat, lit it, and took a large drag off of it, his eyes glowing red.   
  
Mars is at a loss as things went from bad to worse, they couldn't fire magic at him because he just shrugged it off as if it was useless against him and hand to hand seemed to be out of the question since Uranus was the best on the team with Jupiter a close second, and she was failing horribly.   
  
She looked up a few seconds later to see Sailor Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter all run into the area and take in the scene with more than a little disbelief. The self proclaimed Master had Uranus lifted off the ground by her throat and was slowly crushing her throat, he turned to look the new arrivals over and smirked evilly.  
  
"Tell you girl's what, I want to see what you've got before I kill you and since these two idiots are out of the way and Pluto doesn't seem to be around, I'll give you all one free shot to take me out. If you are even able to hurt me, I'll back off and let you girls have week free of attacks and a chance to rest before I start up again. How does that sound?"  
  
"No deal, you are going down now!" Usagi yelled and pulled out the Silver Crystal and held it up.  
  
"Nice trinket you got there, but it is nothing compared to me little girl." Master laughed.  
  
"COSMIC MOON POWER!!"  
  
"JUPITER CRYSTAL POWER!!"  
  
"MARS CRYSTAL POWER!!"  
  
"VENUS CRYSTAL POWER!!"  
  
"MERCURY CRYSTAL POWER!!"  
  
The crystal flared into a silver sun between Moons hands as she brough them forward, the other Scouts sending their powers to the crystal as well and making their Fuku glowed bright silver. With a surge of power, the crystal flared and fired right into Master and exploded. Moon kept it up when she noticed that nothing was happening to her target, the force field he was using was pretty impressive if he could stand up to the Silver Crystal like this.  
  
Sailor Moon kept this up for several minutes, pumping more and more power into the blast. Master grinned and lifted his arms to the sky and formed a large ball of black lighting and let it rain down on the Scouts, instead of exploding it started to grow as it collected power and formed into a dome of arching energy nearly a block wide and about forty feet high before going off with the force that laid waste to even more of the area and leveled a couple more buildings. Master stayed around to gloat for a few minutes before vanishing. He would take a week of before taking over the world since his plans seemed to be working so well.  
  
*********  
  
There is a flash of light in the front court yard of the Shrine and the Scouts appear, floating in mid air, each of them is lined in blue energy for several seconds before dropping them into a pile on the ground. Two more flashes are seen as Guardian Knight appears nearby with Amy kneeling beside her. Though the girl's are still in shock they are awed by the sight that is several miles away and easily visible from the top of the shrine steps.   
  
Master's blast had created a giant crater that had a column of smoke rising into the atmosphere. They could make out the signs of military copters and vehicles heading into the area. The Shrine shook as a small earthquake rocked the area and made the girl's pale.   
  
Mercury hissed in pain as she pulled out her computer and gasped as it fell into pieces in her hand, she started to cry. This set the rest of the girls off for several minutes as they realized that they would now be dead if not for Amy appearing at the last second and teleporting them out of there. The price for their lives was far steeper that any one of them had wanted to pay though, they had lost the Outers. Neptune and Uranus were dead, vaporized for being to far away when Sailor Moon tried to shield them.  
  
Off to the side Amy's own crying could be heard as she held Ranma in her arms, the look of grief on her face was enough to hurt even the Scouts as she rocked her friend. Sailor Moon staggered over to Amy and wrapped her in hug and cried along with her. Amy's clothing had seen better days and was barely holding up after her battle with the three outers, and a magically powered Shampoo, her shirt was mostly intact because of the metal lining she used to give it some weight, but her pants were now gone, shredded into a pair of skimpy shorts that let everyone know that she was wearing black silk panties.  
  
"Sailor Moon, I need you and the others to take care Guardian Knight until she is better."  
  
"You can't go back into that fight Amy. You were beat by the Outers if what I saw is right, how can you beat that monster?"  
  
Amy laughed, bitterly as she kissed the top of Ranma's head. "I am from a different dimension Sailor Moon, I would have been more than happy to keep my nose out of your business, but you attacked me because of what Mars saw in a fire reading. You jumped to conclusions and tried to kill me, then he Outers did the same, none of you even took the time to get to know me. My friend even tired to help you along because she didn't like what I was doing to get revenge on you for even attempting to kill me."  
  
"Ranko?" Moon said.  
  
"Yes, she is my friend, the first I've had in years. This situation is my fault too, I must move to fix it before anymore die."  
  
"How can this be your fault?" Venus asked.  
  
"In my home world, the dark powers are far stronger than they are here, we usually work in teams of 10 to 20 to defeat even one of the simple monsters you Scouts are attacked with. I was attacked one night when I was out feeling sorry for myself and getting drunk, I put up a good fight, but was easily defeated in my inebriated state.   
  
What followed, I won't go into, but the torture lasted several weeks and was performed by experts in physical and magical aspects of the art. I know I didn't break, but they didn't ask me any questions either, after that the main boss named Siefried beat me to within an inch of my life and tossed me right into the ether that resides between dimensions, what most call Limbo.  
  
"That bastard did something to me and sent me to this world, where my presence warped the local balance of power and gave a super charge to the dark powers that resided here. I have no clue how that happened either. Outside of you girls, I have been trying to minimize my effects on this plane by trying to bring the balance back. I was making great progress until I cast that spell over the lake and thought I had succeeded. Then Zepher did something very bad. He opened a gateway and brought forth the powers from my world to use in this one."  
  
"Guardian Knight here, I trained her in a specialized fighting style that is common with the elite fighters of my world. She took to it with an ease that even impressed me and I am one of the strongest fighters in the last few centuries. She took out Zepher even after he had been charged by one of the dark demons from my world and those suckers are very hard to kill.   
  
My kind was created to kill them or die trying. We were bred in laboratories for the job. I am also the last of my kind Sailor Moon, I must do this. The one you just fought and lost to is the dark demon I mentioned, if it worked like its kind usually does, it has taken over the minds and bodies of everybody in the group your fighting and super charged their powers."  
  
"You know who this dark demon is don't you." Sailor Moon stated.  
  
"I don't know how he pulled it off, but you are fighting Siefried, the bastard that sent me here."  
  
"Can you defeat him?"  
  
"I don't know, he found a way to block my primary powers when he kidnapped me, but I found a way to get around that and access them again." Amy says.  
  
"Amy this can be settled another way, you don't have to die."  
  
"You don't understand Sailor Moon." Mercury says.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Her crossing over is what set Pluto off on this weird thing she is on, once Amy defeats Siefried Pluto should go back to normal."   
  
Amy smiles and nods, there was little more to it than that, but they didn't need to know the details. She stood and lifted Ranma's limp body in her arms as she headed into the Shrine, her aura forms around them as she moves and her clothing reforms into the Nova Armor.   
  
Venus, Mars, and Mercury face fault in shock as her cape waves in a nonexistent wind. Moon just smiles sadly and hopes everything will turn out for the better. None of them notice the shadow that is watching them from the top of the Shrine, but it knows that now is the perfect time to take care of it's revenge and jumps off the roof.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	15. Strange Days14 Revised

Notes - This story has been revised from what was originally posted some months ago. The original version was a total mess that didn't make much sense if one looked at it too closely. Over the next few weeks this story is going to be edited and rewritten into a far better story. Feel free to send me comments on this or any of my stories, I always like to hear from people.   
  
Due to the size of this there is a good chance that I will probably miss a mistake here and there. Let me know if any major one's are found. Check out my site to find out which chapters are edited and ready to be sent out.  
  
Site - http http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 14  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
Amy knew something was going to happen because of her presence, but even this was a lot worse than anything she could have ever imagined. Neptune and Uranus were dead, vaporized by Siefried's blast, she hadn't expected him to be that violent, mainly because of the natural goodness of this world. He should have been able to push the edge, but not go over it that easily.   
  
On her home world his kind had been known to destroy entire cities if they didn't do what they were told, it had taken centuries of fighting and several generations of willing men and women to finally stop their dark ways and let peace reign again, but every now and then some fool would summon one of them and it would start all over again.   
  
  
  
The last time one of these things had been free had been nearly fifty years before and the last of the Master Demon Hunters had died in the battle that ended the Dark Demons' time in power.   
  
The Populace had been both pleased and scared, the Demon Hunters were a class of fighter so far above normal fighters that only certain family's practiced the art and had the talents needed to win. With all of them dead they had taken DNA samples from all the families and cloned all of her brothers and sisters, raising them to be the ultimate warriors for when needed.   
  
It had happened about five years before and all of them had been sent against the Dark Demon, of the forty clones, five of them survived the battle and it had leveled most of the city and killed nearly a million people before the fighting stopped.  
  
The win had cost them everything, the remaining people started to look for better ways to defeat the things without the massive loss of life and ignored and ridiculed them as if they had been the cause of it in the first place. In secret they had all trained and trained for nearly four years and in that time they had learned many lessons.   
  
They had also started to learn other things as well and had taken up jobs with certain Gods that used people like them to help others. She had killed innocents, destroyed lives, but on the other hand she had saved countless lives and they balanced each other out. Still it had caused her to change from the innocent being she had been born as and to turn into to a cold fighting machine she had been before coming to this world.   
  
  
  
She had spent years learning to hide her emotions, to ignore her body's natural reactions and to control every aspect of her life. Then she had been kidnapped by this bastard and he had...changed her in way she couldn't understand.  
  
The Gods had learned to depend on her and her remaining family as the time slowly passed for them. Then had come the secret war of Dark Demons that had taken place without anyone knowing. Five of the fuckers had been let loose upon an unsuspecting world that was still in the dark ages of it's evolution, Amy remembered that over 20 hunters had been sent through to defend that world.   
  
The only survivors of that battle had been her and a few of her sisters. Most of them had had been driven insane by the Dark Demons evil perversions and methods. That fight had brought them many victories and enough blood to fill an ocean, they had learned how to use their powers on whole new levels as they fought, improvising attacks on the fly to catch them by surprise so that they couldn't adapt so quickly. Even worse was that those five had been able to find and use the summoning spells to bring more of their kind through to help them, even now she had the occasional nightmare about it.  
  
Amy looked outside as she tried to decide the best way to end this battle, the only thing she could come up with is her ultimate attack. She had only ever practiced it a few times and that had been out in deep space where witnesses were very rare. She looked at her hands and remembered what happened whenever she used the full power of the attack, a shudder went through her, even worse than she had expected.   
  
This would be a one time deal once she fired it off, after that she was as good as dead if she failed to kill the bastard. Amy looked over at Ranma on the bed beside her, the red head was in really bad shape, but Rei's grandfather had taken her in and said he would help out one of the city defenders gratefully. The old man's wink had startled her for a second, then she had laughed at him as she understood. He knew about Sailor Mars and her group.  
  
Suddenly there is a loud commotion outside and Amy runs for the front of the shrine, the sounds of battle can be heard and she wonders what in the world is going on now. She skids out the front door and sees the Scouts falling to the ground as some kind of sleep gas and a dark blur moves among them and takes them out one by one.   
  
Who the hell could take the Scouts this fast, was the first thing that went through Amy's mind as she surveyed the area, but the blur had vanished the instant she stepped outside. She noticed one of those concealed pockets near the shadows to the side of the shrine. There was movement in that little pocket and since she didn't want to deal with even more tricks today her arm came up and fired at it, turning a nearby tree into a hail of splinters with a concussion blast.  
  
A small shape leapt out of the branches and moved faster than most mortals could move, but this was Amy. "Cologne, what are you doing here?"  
  
The old woman stops and turns to face her and Amy takes in the old woman's new look. She has in a tiny ninja outfit like the pervert likes to wear, her long white hair done up into a long braid that wrapped around her shoulders. There were several magical amulets pined to her outfit, all of them glowing. "Damn, I didn't expect you to catch me this soon."  
  
"Then why are you here?"  
  
"It doesn't matter, you must be killed for my family's honor to be returned and I will do everything in my power to see to it that succeeds."  
  
"That battle is between me an Shampoo old woman..."  
  
"Shampoo is dead. Where she stopped I will take up the fight and regain our family honor."  
  
"Oh please, the fight wasn't that bad and she was at fault anyways. As for the second fight, she was killed by the Outer Scouts when they fired on us as we fought, blame them. I was trying to take her down as softly as I could, without killing her."  
  
"Lies, all of it, we saw what happened back at the village. She was carrying our most potent magical items as she fought you, we saw the truth of what you are demon and you are going to die before you take anymore lives down with you!" Cologne yelled as she stabbed her staff out to the right of Amy and fired off a beam of red light, she didn't even bother to dodge.  
  
"What the hell was that?"  
  
Cologne relaxed and hopped up on her staff to watch, her smile was evil as her eyes glowed. "3000 years of Amazon history has taught us a lot of lessons demon and the most potent one is to make your allies do the work for us."  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!"  
  
Amy dodged by instinct alone, her eyes wide with surprise, she jumped straight up in the air and flipped to the side as she landed. A number of little details were coming together in her mind as she ran, just how long had Cologne had one of the Sailors brainwashed like this? Mars had wanted her dead from the beginning and Amy had been pissed off ever since.   
  
The girl had almost been one of the ones she took down a peg, but the time had never seemed right for some reason, and then Siefried had sent out his servants and she had devoted more time to that after she decided to call off her revenge against the Scouts for trying to kill her.  
  
She heard the old woman cackling in the back round and Amy took note of the large bands of black that she had seen in the old woman's aura. She was a little relieved to know that this wasn't completely the old woman's fault and Shampoo's death must have been too much for her and driven her even further down this path. Amy spun and dodged as Mars powered up again, her eyes were blank, though a closer look revealed a couple of tears trailed down her cheeks as she fought against the thing making her do this.  
  
"MARS FLAME SNIPER!!"  
  
Amy didn't move this time, instead she brought up a shield and allowed it to deflect the arrow of fire at Cologne, at the same time she jumped forward and started to punch at Mars. The girl had training, but not enough, and Amy used a number of feints to confuse the girl and get her turned around. A quick blow to the back of the lower part of her head knocked her out, but Amy felt something break just as her fist impacted.   
  
She hadn't hit that hard, she thought, as she bent down to check the girl. Amy moved the black hair to the side to reveal a small band of metal attached to Mar's neck. It had little claws imbedding it into her skin, her punch had caught the edge of it and broke it in half. Amy yanked it off and tossed it to the side where it flared for a second and disintegrated.  
  
"Damn you demon, I will get my revenge on you if it is the last thing I do!" Cologne yelled and vanished in flare of light.  
  
Amy breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed. "You can come on out old man, she is gone."  
  
Rei's grandfather walked out of the Shrine and knelt down beside his granddaughter. He looked very worried as he examined his granddaughter's health. It surprised him to find that Amy hadn't hurt her all that much. "What did you take off of her neck?"  
  
"Some kind of magical mind control device, I doubt she knew about it until it was used."  
  
"How could she have not noticed it, she is always messing with her hair."  
  
"Probably a suggestion to ignore it in some way, she shouldn't be after my blood any more, I hope."  
  
Rei groaned and rolled her head to look up at Amy, a couple of tears running down her cheeks. "I'm sorry Amy. I never wanted to hurt you." Muttered Mars as she sat up and glared at her grandfather. "If you knew why I was being so secretive, why didn't you say anything, do you have any idea how relieved I would have been to be free of this secret? I never wanted to keep it in the first place."  
  
"It was none of my business Rei. You're old enough to make your own decisions, why do you think I don't force you to do everything around here anymore? I even let you have your meetings by always taking Chad off the property at the perfect times. You never noticed?" Grandfather said innocently, his eyes wide and sparkling.  
  
Mars sighs and looks back at Amy. "That old woman ambushed me on the way to our meeting at the school and made sure I would cause you problems. I couldn't resist her orders no matter how hard I tried."  
  
"What about when Jupiter first attacked me?"  
  
"That was all me, I had a vision in the Sacred Fire that showed you killing all the Scouts, I never even questioned it."  
  
"I can forgive you I guess, but be more careful next time or I'll get my revenge on you too." Amy said with a lecherous smirk, rubbing her finger tip together.  
  
Mar's blushed clear to her toes and the old man just looked confused.  
  
"Amy?" Mercury asked.  
  
She turned and noticed that the other Scouts were coming around, Sailor Moon was sitting up shaking her head, Mercury was beside her and looking over at them. Most of them were looking a little baffled as to what had happened, but silently decided look into it later.   
  
"What?"  
  
"Would it be possible for this Siefried to have affected Mar's fire reading in some way to cause you more problems and keep you off balance while he worked to gain a stronger food hold in this dimensions?"  
  
Amy blinked and blinked again. "You know, I don't think he could have even come here without permission or being summoned. My presence may have had some effect on that, weakening the dimensional barriers with my illegal crossing and all that. I think you may be right Mercury, this all leads back to the day I first crossed over to this world. Why this world though, it is unsuited for his needs, Dark Demon's usually prefer places full of darkness and death. This world is actually a very peaceful one..."  
  
"Amy, all of this leads back to you..." Mercury points out.  
  
"...damn, it's so simple I didn't see it before. Thanks Mercury, that just ruins my whole day." Amy muttered.  
  
"I don't understand." Moon said, looking confused.  
  
"Her presence messed up the balance, but she is also maintaining the imbalance and that is allowing the other side to grow in power. If she leaves, the balance of good will shift back to us. This will give us that last little bit needed to win." Mercury said.  
  
"Then we have a problem." Amy growled out.  
  
"What do you mean?" Mercury asked.  
  
"When Siefried sent me here, he cut off my source of power and all of you guys attacking me was depleting my much needed energies. At first I just absorbed a little energy out of the environment or from the demons that were out roaming around like that one from the mall.   
  
Then the fighting got worse and worse and I ended up getting injured during a surge of darkness that affected a number of fighters in Nerima, I thought it was just a regular chaotic event created by the district. It may have been set in motion by Siefried instead and that event made me align my powers to this dimension."  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"It means that for the next twenty years I can't leave this world, and the only way left for me to leave is for me to die."  
  
The Scouts all paled, they hadn't expected that kind of answer.  
  
"NO!! I won't let you!" Ranma yelled from the Shrine as she staggers out, looking a lot better than she had.  
  
"It's the only way!" Amy yells back.  
  
"I don't care. I won't let you go after all this..." Ranma said quietly.  
  
"You said it yourself Amy. We can only be friends because of all the problems in your life."   
  
"That no longer matters, two of them have solved themselves. Ukyo has pretty much given up and Akane has Ryoga, Shampoo is dead according to what I just heard. You're all I have left Amy...please don't do this."  
  
"Ranko if the circumstances were reversed it wouldn't stop you from sacrificing yourself. I don't think you would even hesitate to end your life to save the others if you had to. How does that make us so different?"  
  
"I l-lo...care for you." Blush. "I don't want you to go away and not come back."  
  
"I love you too, why do you think I have tried so hard to stay in this world after all this time. Even now I don't want to do this, but..."  
  
"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" A wailing Sailor Moon and Venus glomped both girl, scaring them half to death. "T-that was so b-beautiful!!"  
  
Ranma and Amy turned bright red, they had forgotten the Scouts were there listening to them the whole time. "Baka!" Amy said and batted Ranma on the head with a tiny hammer made of air.  
  
"Owww." Ranma complained, trying to hide a grin as she held her head.  
  
"Amy. Let's get back to the matter at hand. Do you think that Siefried may have wanted you to kill yourself?"  
  
"I don't know anymore Mercury, it may be possible that was his whole intention from the beginning. Make me kill myself so that he could gain free reign on his plane to do as he wishes..."  
  
"I think you just hit it on the nose Amy, without you or Guardian Knight here, we have no chance of defeating him. I also think that Guardian Knight here is a wild card he hadn't counted on, he probably figured that his monsters would take care of us easily, then would move on to overwhelming you. He could do as he pleased and make this world over in whatever image he wanted." Mars said from the side.  
  
"Hey, I have an idea..." Grandfather Hino said as he raised his hand.  
  
**********  
  
It was later that afternoon and Ranma was feeling much better, her healing abilities along with her Guardian Knight powers had fixed her up and all of them had decided to call it a day so that they could get some rest. They had spent the last six hours trying to come up with a decent plan to defeat Siefried. The old man's idea was actually pretty good one, but for it to work the thing would have to be on a scale the size of Tokyo itself.   
  
They had tabled the idea and attempted to come up with others that would not have been as tricky or as dangerous as that one. Amy had also spent most of the day considering her options for the coming battle and had come to the conclusion that there was no way they could win unless she used her ultimate technique. She had spent about an hour explaining bits and pieces of her history to the Scouts, detailing several battles where she and several others had fought these things before and what the usual outcome was in those fights.  
  
Unlike this world where the Scouts battled their enemies with all their heart and eventually won with a happy ending, in most cases, Amy had stressed to all of them that to beat one of these monsters would require great sacrifices on all their parts. Not once in the millennia that these things had been plaguing humans had one of them been defeated easily and was usually done at the expense of a lot of lives. They would fight tooth and nail until they were overwhelmed and destroyed entirely.   
  
Amy could tell that her descriptions of some of the most basic battles, which she edited, had scared the daylights out of the Scouts. Even Ranma had turned a little pale as she described some of the sacrifices required to bring these monsters over into this world.  
  
At the same time she stressed to all of them at that the use of the Silver Crystal would probably bring the odds of his defeat back into their favor after she fired off her ultimate attack. That statement had the Scouts pressing her for details on the nature and the power of this attack, but since Amy didn't want them to worry about the consequences if she was to fail, she only gave them a vague description of its power and its abilities.   
  
"The Megasphere Blast is my final attack and one that I only ever use in the most extreme of emergencies. I normally use a powered down version of this that all you girls know of as my Nova Cannon, the same one that I used to defeat that monster the other day when me and Ranko started to help you out."  
  
All the Scouts nodded as they remembered that attack.  
  
"The Megasphere Blast is best described as a blast of energy that is about 1000 times more powerful than what you guys witnessed that day. Firing that off is going to drain me almost completely, so the rest of you are going to have to be ready to step in and take over the fight after that." Amy said coldly.  
  
"What exactly will be my part in this?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I'm not sure yet, but I'm going to be training you for the next several days to get you ready to takeover this fight once I've put everything I have into that blast, it is for this kind of fight that techniques like the 'Ascension of the Dragon God' were created in the first place. You just have a few steps to go before you master the technique completely and will become extremely dangerous. This is the same level of power that had Cologne so nervous a few weeks back when she wanted to erase the Ascension of the Dragon God Technique from your mind."  
  
"Oh yeah, I had forgotten that she didn't like the attack all that much." Ranma said nervously. "Um..were going to set this plan in motion in a few days, is that enough time to train me in the last couple of steps?"  
  
"It should be, but we will be pushing you to your limits Ranko."  
  
Ranma nodded.  
  
After that they had said good bye to everyone and headed back to the Tendo dojo to begin the final training, Ranma was in a hurry to learn it. Amy was amazed that it had been just that morning that they left to do a bit of training in the park, but it had only been about 6 hours or so since they were sparring for the fun of it.   
  
Now they were returning from a war that was threatening to overwhelm the entire planet in darkness. Ranma and Amy were lost in their own thoughts when they arrived home. There was this feeling in the air that both girls missed because they were distracted with each other.  
  
"I can't believe what has happened today." Ranma said.  
  
"We all have to make a choice some time Ranma, I'm glad you finally made yours."  
  
Ranma sighed. "But look at the price Amy, was it worth that much pain?"  
  
"This situation can be blamed on your father Ranma, blame him."  
  
"Maybe, but I just can't drop my responsibilities that easily. It is hard for me to do this, even restoring all the Tendo's memories after pop took them away took a lot of courage from me. I almost didn't do it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"They would have been happier the way they were before this all started."  
  
"It's easier to live in reality Ranma."  
  
"I know, but with things the way they were I could have had a chance to make up with Ryoga. Then there was Akane, the two of us have been getting along better since you showed up, thought it was touch and go for a while there."  
  
"Ranma."   
  
The two girl's turned and saw a woman step out of the Tendo home. She was dressed in a kimono and carrying her sword. "Mom?" Ranma asked, eyeing the sword nervously.  
  
"We have some things to discus tonight. Meet me and the others in the dinning room when you get changed back."  
  
"Alright mom, I'll be just a few minutes." Ranma said and ran into the house.  
  
Nodoka turned to Amy. "What exactly are your intentions towards Ranma?"  
  
"Do you want the blunt full truth answer or the flowery evasive answer?" Amy asked.  
  
Nodoka blinked. "The truth please."  
  
"I hope to make him my husband and to train him up to be one of the strongest fighters in the world."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Two hours after I met him I fell in lust with him Mrs. Saotome, it took till the end of the day for that to turn to love. He already has several fiancé's, so I decided to keep my feelings to myself and let him do as he wanted. Then Mr. Saotome did something stupid and basically destroyed any relationship Ranma may have had with Akane and I changed my mind. I want him and her in every way of the word." Amy said.  
  
Nodoka smiled. "He is so manly!"  
  
"Quite true." Amy said with a grin.  
  
"You said you could train him to be an even better fighter?"  
  
"I'm teaching him on of the more powerful techniques right now, it's strong enough to blow up entire mountains if used at full force. If he masters it, I have a few others that he can learn to augment it."  
  
"Oh, that sounds like a fine idea though I'm surprised that you know these things."   
  
Amy just grinned. "Where I come from, the women can hit just as hard as the men."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Oh yes."  
  
"What about weapon techniques?" Nodoka asked, pointing at her katana.  
  
Amy grinned and held out her hand. "We have learned to rely on more useful tools than those, though I rarely use them anymore." A ball of light formed in Amy's hand and it turned into a solid ball of red light. Then it seemed to morph and extend until it was shaped just like a fill sized katana, glowing slightly as she waved it back and forth.  
  
"Oh my!" Nodoka said, feeling envious and proud of the girl her son seemed to be trying to win.  
  
"There are others who are better with these than me Mrs. Saotome, but I know how to use them. Like Ranma I prefer to use unarmed skills when needed, I use these more for demonstrations of Ki control than anything else.  
  
Nodoka blinked. "I see, well shall we head inside?"  
  
"Sure, I'm curious about what you wanted to talk about." Amy said, grinning in amusement at the woman's glazed eyes. She relaxed and let the Ki blade vanish back into her aura.  
  
They headed inside and Amy sat down beside Nabiki as Nodoka took up guard at the head of the table. The entire family was there for the meeting, Soun and Genma were looking angrily at Ranma as he came down stairs and took up his place beside Akane. Neither of the teens looked at each other, though Akane had developed a light colored red aura that was flaring around her as she seethed.  
  
"Son?" Nodoka said.  
  
"Yeah mom?"  
  
"Can you tell me what happened between you and Akane that forced you to break the promise between Genma and Soun?"  
  
"I didn't break the promise mother."  
  
"Don't lie to me Ranma." Nodoka said, fingering the katana.  
  
"Akane chose to marry Ryoga mother, she broke the arrangement between the families, not me."  
  
"Ranma!" Akane growled.  
  
"Pops and Mr. Tendo didn't agree with her decision so they used the Xi Fa Xiang Gao technique to remove everybody's memories mom, they made things the way they were before Akane chose Ryoga over me."  
  
"That isn't what your father said Ranma."  
  
"Whatever he said was probably meant to make him seem like the victim here, he's done if for years." Ranma said, glaring an his father. For once Genma didn't act like he was supposed to, slightly embarrassed and sweating nervously, instead he glared right back and seemed quite angry at those around him. His muscles were tense and strained as if he was expecting to go into battle at any moment.  
  
Amy didn't like the looks of this and glanced over at him to get a reading on his aura, she noticed that it was attracting bands of black energy like a low powered magnet. She turned and looked everyone over as quickly as she could, they were all being affected in some way, even Kasumi.   
  
Why hadn't she noticed it before? She wondered. Akane was the worst, she was being influenced in such a way that she seemed to barely be in control at the moment and was about ready to explode. This wasn't good, it was even worse than night all the martial artists attacked at once and she hadn't been able to put up a decent defense. She turned to tell Ranma, but was interrupted when all hell broke loose.  
  
Genma growled and Amy saw an actual aura flare around him for a brief second as he launched himself at Ranma with a speed that he had never used before. Amy just reacted, grabbing Nabiki, she rolled them away just at the table was turned to splinters.   
  
They stopped just in time to see Akane push Kasumi and Nodoka out of the way and for Ranma to be punched through the wall and into the furo on the other side. He impacted against the far wall and slumped to the ground, groaning in pain, but he was back up on his feet just as Genma stepped through the wall to confront him.  
  
"Boy, your going to marry Akane and I won't take anymore excuses from you!" Genma shouted. "It's time for you to see just why I am your master boy, you will obey me or else!"  
  
"Husband stop this!" Nodoka yelled, looking both pissed and...flushed.  
  
"Or else what pop, you'll go panda and sit on me?" Ranma taunted.  
  
"Ranma, he's being affected like Shampoo and Ukyo were the other day, be careful." Amy called.  
  
Akane heard this and turned to growled at her, there was a huge amount of power being used against all of them. This didn't look good and Amy hadn't had time to prepare for anything like this, she had spent the whole day fighting and was in a very bad position if things got to out of hand.   
  
Then Amy rolled away from the table as Akane stood up and shattered it with a single blow, the didn't seem to care about what kind of damage she was doing to her own house. Rolling to her feet Amy frowned, she needed at least a full nights sleep to deal with this kind of thing and she wasn't sure how to handle it at her current power level.  
  
"So is Akane!"  
  
Ranma paled as he watched the girl he cared about getting into yet another fight with his ex-fiancé, and then he turned and looked Genma over and nodded as he took up his newest stance. His face hardened as a huge aura flared up around him, it was a dark blue flame that roared up around him and nearly blew his father off his feet. It was more than enough to shatter some of the bathroom tilling and raise the dust into the air around him. "Bring it on old man, are you willing to level this house to punish me?" Ranma said in his coldest voice.  
  
"You will marry Akane even if it is to your crippled corpse boy!" Genma snarled. "I've had enough of you avoiding your responsibilities!"  
  
"You think I'm avoiding my responsibilities? Look who's talking old man, who sold me to every other family we came across so you could feed that bottomless pit you call a stomach? Who was it that has engaged me to over a dozen girl's because of your stomach old man? Huh?" Ranma taunted as he twisted around the old man's fist and kicked him in the face with his knee.   
  
In the living room Nodoka gasped in shock as she learned even more of the truth of what had happened on that training trip. Little pieces of things she had heard from the Tendo girls and others began to come together for her, things she had been ignoring because she considered them impossible. "No..." She whispered.  
  
Amy flipped to the side and blocked several of Akane's punches and redirected the girl's out of control aura away from everyone around her. She tossed the girl away and took a second to shake her head and moved to help a stunned Nabiki to her feet. Kasumi was still in shock and hadn't moved from her spot at the head of the table, there was a weird look on her face as she gazed at her little sister.   
  
The youngest Tendo got to her feet with a dangerous look on her face and launcher herself at Amy, but was elbowed in the sternum and sent sprawling back to the floor. Wearily Amy moved to keep the rest of the family from getting harmed to much, but knew it was only a matter of time before her weakened condition would allow Akane to get the upper hand.  
  
"Are you two alright?" Amy gasped out to the girls behind her, she noticed that Soun hadn't moved from where he was sitting. He just sat there in shock and watched what was going on around him as if trying to believe it.  
  
"Yeah, it just caught me by surprise." Nabiki said, reevaluating her opinion of Amy.  
  
"How about you Kasumi?"  
  
Kasumi just gazed in horror at what was happening around her, unable to comprehend just what had caused it in the first place. "..."  
  
"Can anyone tell me what is going on?" Soun asked in a stunned voice as he watched his best friend try to kill his own son.  
  
"Genma is being influenced by his dark emotions." Amy answered.  
  
"How do you know that?" Everyone asked.  
  
"Read his aura, it is attracting dark elements like a magnet and those are amplifying his darker emotions."  
  
"We have to stop them before this escalates." Soun said. "Genma stop this before you kill him!"  
  
"Shut up! The boy is going to learn or die, there is no other options left!" Genma yelled as he punched Ranma in the head and kicked him in the back. Then he did something he hadn't done in years, he flared up with more power than Ranma had ever seen him use and surged forward to break through his defenses for a massive punch to his stomach, doubling Ranma over and sending him through the far wall of the property.   
  
The wall exploded outward as Ranma flew out into the alley behind the Tendo dojo and barely managed to land and roll with the force of the landing. Correction, this was like fighting him when she was showing him the 'Ascension of the Dragon God' technique, it hurt just as much to, but he had never seen it used in this way before. Unlike his father though, Ranma had been learning how to control the massive power the move allowed and wasn't about to just roll up and die.  
  
"Come on boy, you can do better than this pathetic defense." Genma said as he walked out of the hole in the wall, he was glowing a bright orange now and looked positively deranged.  
  
"Old man, I'm tired of you always telling me what to do, this will be our final fight, do you understand? If I win this you will make me a master of the school, this is no holds barred."  
  
"Agreed!" Genma yelled without hesitation.  
  
"This is bad, they have been fighting each other for so long that they know how the other thinks and moves." Soun said as the family watched, he started when he heard a fist impacting flesh behind him and turned to see Amy hog tying Akane in the middle of the floor. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"Akane is just as effected by this darkness as Genma, she will be fine until she lets the anger go." Amy said as she tapped the girl's sleep spot. She was a bit irritated that she hadn't been able to get to it during their fight, but Akane had encountered it somewhere before and knew how to defend against it with her new abilities and forced Amy to take her down the hard way.   
  
She looked outside to see Ranma and Genma still going at with a savage with all the hatred in their bodies. "Other than the circumstances, it is about time Ranma went for his master's designation though, he should have been awarded that over a year ago." Amy said as she stood up. She hoped this would help things in the long run and it would help them with Siefried if Ranma was successful.   
  
Nabiki nodded. "He should have done this several months ago."  
  
"Aren't any of you worried about those two hurting each other?!" Nodoka yelled. "All I wanted to do was settle this engagement, not start a war!"  
  
"Ranma will be perfectly fine Mrs. Saotome. He hasn't even come close to tapping his full power yet. Genma doesn't stand a chance." Amy said.  
  
"Don't underestimate Genma, Miss. Lee, Genma is one of the Master's better students and was good enough to create his own school of martial arts." Soun said sadly, he had wanted to witness this for a long time now, but the circumstances had always been completely wrong. This was supposed to be a happy time, not a blood bath.  
  
"It's a good thing I was in the area then or I would have never allowed this to be binding." Hopposai said as he landed on a rock by the Koi pond to observe the fight, he pulled out a pipe and lit it with a flare of Ki.  
  
For once Soun kept his head and just nodded as he watched the fight, he had known the Master was around the area somewhere. Things had just come to this so quickly that he hadn't had time to think through the possible ramifications of this fight. After this if Ranma won he would never have to blindly obey again, he would be allowed to make his own decisions and take action when he saw fit. Soun just hoped that his friend didn't go overboard in his 'punishment' of his child, that would ruin all they had been striving to accomplish.   
  
Outside the two men were moving at speeds that defied description, seemingly hovering twenty or so feet above the ground as they attacked each other. Their grunts and yells were echoing across the neighbor hood as they fought, their auras were such that they were lighting up the darkness around them. Genma yelled out as Ranma blocked his attack with his forearm and kicked him in the stomach, spun around and kicked him in the back of the head to send Genma flying back with a shower of sparks as their aura's clashed with each other.   
  
From there the fight escalated until they had torn up the alley way, the Tendo back yard, the neighbors, and ended up in the abandoned lot across the street still trying to destroy each other. By this time they were also hurling Ki attacks at each other on every attack and block, leaving small craters in their wake as grisly reminders of just how strong each of them were.  
  
Falling out of the sky, Ranma landed on his hands and used the momentum to kick Genma in the stomach as he came down on top of him. The old man went flying back, nearly out of control, but not before he launched a vacuum blade at his son. Ranma cried out as the thing cut deeply into his shoulder and had blood spray in his face and the ground around him. He rolled to his feet to his feet and growled, this fight wasn't going like he had figured, pops wasn't fighting like he usually did and that was giving him the advantage.   
  
This time he was actually using his brain and using moves that could cripple or even kill him if they got too out of control. Ranma grinned as he decided that he liked this aspect of the old fart, it was change for the better really and was too bad it was because he was being affected by the dark energies gathering in his aura. For to many years the old man had been a coward and an idiot, but now he was showing just what he was capable of doing and it was quite remarkable, even worthy of respect.  
  
With a little push of his Ki, Ranma flared up with power and lit up the entire area, doubling his power in a split second. He seemed to turn into a giant blue strobe light that pushed the old man back several feet and shattered the ground around his feet. Genma just scowled and copied the technique, flaring with pure Orange energy as he pitted his own strength against Ranma's aura. They smirked at each other and for the first time in all the time the Tendo's had known them, they finally saw the family resemblance of the two.   
  
They rushed forward with a sonic boom and tore into each other like to mad men, moving so fast that only their after images were seen, but every now and then they would crash into the wall or a nearby house in an explosion of debris. Refusing to give into the other and determined to take this fight to the ultimate level, nothing else would be as satisfying.   
  
As the fight progressed everyone that knew Genma was amazed that the coward and dishonorable fool could pull off anything like this. Usually he couldn't go to long against Ranma full fury, but this time he was shrugging off blows that would have killed anyone else. Still, the outcome was a given and Ranma pulled feint and wrist lock throw to send Genma into the ground with a mighty thump. Ranma came down on top of him and landed with his fist buried in the old man's stomach and blowing all the air out of his lungs with a Ki filled concussion blast.  
  
"Good fight old man, I didn't think you had it in you to force me to power up this much. I'm amazed actually, speechless, and down right impressed." Ranma hissed into Genma's ear as he tapped several pressure points he had learned from Dr. Tofu and Cologne. Genma fell back and passed out as they took effect. "To bad it's unlikely to ever happen again."  
  
Ranma stumbled back a few steps and fell to his knees as everyone came running up to him. "Ranma are you alright? That looks like a nasty wound." Amy said as she examined his shoulder, Kasumi nodding with a concerned smile.  
  
"It's nothing."   
  
"Right." Amy and Nabiki dead panned, they smiled at each other.  
  
Soun and Nodoka went over to Genma and spent some time examining him. They were surprised to find that he was only unconscious and undamaged. "Ranma, what did you do to him?" Soun called.  
  
"I'm both impressed with what he did and disappointed in the old fart, I didn't want to kill him so I just hit him with several pressure points as we fought. Eventually he just lost so much energy that he was easy to defeat. Cologne once used a point to make Ryoga release all of his Ki after it built up to a dangerous level. I used it on him a little while ago. It just took a little time take effect. Now witness...did I win?"  
  
"Congratulations Master Saotome Ranma!" Soun Yelled, after a quick look at Hopposai.  
  
"It's about time. I've wanted to do that for a very long time." Ranma said as he staggered into the house.  
  
A few minutes later Kasumi had him sitting on the porch and was tending to the cut on his shoulder, sewing up the wound and making sure it wasn't worse than they had thought.   
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued... 


	16. Strange Days15 Revised

Site - http://shi_hanna.tripod.com   
  
*********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 15  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
*********  
  
It had been years since the Tendo dojo had trained up a master of the arts. This didn't exactly qualify in most people's opinions since gaining mastery is supposed to be the final act between a Master and a Student. Still, it was a good excuse to throw a party and work off some of the tension that had developed because of the day's events.   
  
After defeating his father and making sure the old fool wasn't being affected by his darker emotions anymore, Ranma had been escorted back to the house to get cleaned up and the old men had made sure that the sake was flowing freely ever since. Genma hadn't wanted to have anything to with it, but after a while he had come around and decided that the sake and food would help lesson the sting of his defeat at his son's hands.   
  
There was also a bit of dancing, singing, and even a little yelling as Akane tried to mallet Ranma for ignoring her and not answering her questions about Ryoga. She had been untied earlier and been in a bad mood ever since, Amy had made sure things didn't get to out of hand since Ranma was injured in the fight.   
  
She had been drinking at the time so Amy had been forced to hit her sleeper point again to put her out just to keep her from hurting herself or any of the others. Kasumi and Nodoka had stayed sober to help out with the celebration and make snacks and finger foods for Ranma's victory.   
  
As usual Kasumi showed as much skill here as with normal foods and quickly had the lots of things set out for them to eat. No one asked where in the world she had acquired another table for them to use after Akane destroyed the other one during Ranma's fight.   
  
Eventually Soun and Genma passed out over his shogi board, muttering about how long it had been since they last had anything to celebrate. Kasumi helped him up to bed and motioned for Nodoka to grab the snoring Akane and help get her to her room as well. A few minutes later they grabbed Genma and dragged him off as well, though this time it was out to the Dojo.   
  
  
  
His actions had gotten him into a lot of trouble with his wife and she wanted to collect. This left Ranma and Amy at the table sitting at the table, they looked at each other and smiled shyly, Ranma realized that this was the first time they had been in the house alone like this.   
  
"Are you okay Amy?" Ranma asked.  
  
"Yeah, just drank a little too much that's all."  
  
"Me too, I'm not sure I should even try standing r-right now."  
  
"Really? I was going to suggest a little walk to clear our heads." Amy said and threw out a hint that passed clear over Ranma's head.  
  
"I don't know, it's a little late."  
  
"Please, we could go down to park and see the lake in the moonlight or something."  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Ranma?" Amy asked, turning on her super cute attack. Complete with large eyes, sparkles, and tears when necessary. Though this time Ranma broke before she had to go that far.  
  
Ranma blinked and shrugged. "Sure, let's go for a walk in the park at 2am in the morning."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
They helped each other up, grabbed their shoes, and staggered out the front gate. Several seconds later Nodoka peaked around the corner and grinned, she motioned the all clear for Kasumi as they sat down at the table. They had some tea and relaxed before turning to talk to each other, it would have been sake, but the two old fools had finished off all of it just before passing out.  
  
"Do you suppose this will work?"  
  
"Father and Mr. Saotome have tried everything else to get Ranma hooked up with my sister, it usually fails." Kasumi said.  
  
"Oh." Nodoka says sadly.  
  
"Still, we weren't as obvious about it as they usually are and we were trying for Amy and not Akane, since she did choose Ryoga. God only knows why."  
  
"That's true, I hope it works, I want some grandchildren before I'm too old to do anything with them."  
  
"Who knows what will happen Auntie." Kasumi says quietly, still sipping her tea.  
  
"What about his shoulder? Do you think that will cause them any problems?"  
  
"Auntie, Ranma can shrug off damage like that in a day or two. He wasn't even paying attention to his wound tonight."  
  
"I noticed, he was watching his new girlfriend."  
  
Kasumi giggled and nodded.  
  
Ranma and Amy soon make it to the park with out troubles and make their way over to the lake. Amy points out something he had noticed before, but never really thought about before, how the moon light reflected off the lake. It was one of the neatest things he had ever seen, but gets really distracted when Amy takes his arm and leans on him with a sigh.   
  
He was surprised at how it made him feel, wanted, and it was a feeling he hadn't felt in a very long time. None of his fiancée's had ever made him feel this way, not even Akane when he had cared about her the most. They just used him for what ever they wanted and then tossed him to the side when they were done. Just like the trophy they saw him as. He started to sweat as indecent thoughts went through his head and he hoped his blush was hidden in the shadows as they passed under some of the trees.  
  
His brain was mush, for several days now he had noticed that whenever Amy was around he couldn't think straight, everything she did made him watch her as closely as he could. His eyes were always locked to some part her body, her legs, arms, ass, chest, even her eyes. A shudder went down his spine as he recalled what he had been trying to suppress for the last ten minutes, nor did he see that Amy had noticed.   
  
He may have been young, but he had admitted his feeling to her that morning and he had been feeling a little giddy ever since then. He found that when Amy tried to talk to him he would have to force himself to answer because he hadn't really been paying attention, her voice had held him enthralled, but her words tended to go right over his head. Then there was his unspoken dream, something he had been wishing for a long time now, she accepted him in either form without restraint. Even Ukyo had professed a desire for his male side only.  
  
"What are you thinking about?" Amy asked.  
  
"Um...a number of things." Ranma said carefully.  
  
"Like?"  
  
"Um...comparisons and such."  
  
"The differences between how you treat me compared to...say...Ukyo or Shampoo." Ranma tensed, suddenly expecting to get hit.  
  
"And what was the verdict Ranma?" Amy asked.  
  
Ranma was amazed, she wasn't even mad or anything. "Y-you treat me the same no matter what form I'm in and I l-like that. Ukyo has always preferred me in my male form, always offered me hot water the instant she saw me."  
  
"Hmmm, well that was probably because of your habit of always saying you hate your curse Ranma, she just fell into as pattern. Then you never tell anyone what your actually feelings are and cause even more problems, that doesn't help you or them all that much. How were they to know when you changed your mind about something and didn't tell anybody?"  
  
"I guess, I never thought of it that way."  
  
Amy smiled. "Ranma, you almost never think."  
  
"HEY!!"  
  
Amy giggled and snuggled closer to Ranma, she smirks to herself as he tenses up again and decides to see if he is ready for the next step. "Ranma you know I'm very open about certain things right?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I want you."  
  
Ranma's brain melted and he turned a solid red and said the most intelligent thing he could in that situation. "Huh?!"  
  
"I want you Ranma. Right now I want to make love to you tonight because I love you."  
  
"But...but...but..."  
  
"You have a great ass Ranma, it is perfect in every way, and I want to feel it with my hands, I want to kiss it, I want to feel you..." Amy said seductively, leaning up to kiss Ranma.   
  
His eyes went wide, his pig tail stood on end and he nearly passed out from the intensity of his body's reaction. Then things got even more intense, his knees went to rubber and he fell to the ground with Amy on top of him. This was what Amy wanted and giggled as she landed on top of him, a dirty glint in her eyes as she smiled down at him.   
  
They kissed again and Amy was pleased to see him finally start to respond to her as she started to undo the buttons on her coat and push it off her shoulders. She took a seductive pose and smiled down at him as she looked in his eyes  
  
"A-Amy I've n-n-n-never done this before..."  
  
  
  
"Ah, but you learn so quickly Ranma."  
  
"Um..."  
  
Amy just gigged and kissed him again, she nearly lost it when he froze in shock. He had no idea what he was doing and she planned to show him all the tricks before she was done, then it would be on to something even more fun. Being by a lake in the middle of the night was fraught full of possibilities. She sighed as he started to relax and `play' around with what she was offering him...  
  
**********  
  
Ranma and Amy didn't get much sleep that night, but they did discover just how much they liked each other, it took all her control not to ravaged him on the spot and take her time. Amy even spent half an hour showing Ranma what it was like to be a girl, in such a way to leave a female Ranma slack jawed and drooling in the grass with a dazed expression.   
  
They spent the rest of the night there in the park cuddling with each other and talking softly, just basking in each other's presence and occasionally going at it a few more times. Amy wasn't disappointed either, Ranma may have been a total novice but she took the time to explain how everything worked and he picked up the skills easily. At around dawn they woke up in each others arms and got up just as the sun was washing over the city.   
  
It had been a long time since Amy had been with a man and it was everything she had remembered, she had proven it to Ranma several times the night before and he didn't seem to care that she knew what she was doing. He had enjoyed it just as much and felt a million times better about himself this morning.   
  
Once they were awake they spent a couple hours fighting and sparring with each other before heading back to the dojo for a quick bath and breakfast. Amy was a bit surprise to be as alert as she was since she had been up early the previous morning, fought all day, and stayed up all night with Ranma.   
  
Amy was also patting herself on the back for making sure they weren't interrupted by any of the other girls by spending a few seconds to mask their presence from anyone that might have stumbled across them. No one seemed to have noticed they had been gone all night as they walked back into the Tendo's house, so they pretended things were normal for now. Though if either had been paying attention they would have noticed the giant grin Nodoka was trying, and failing to hide.   
  
"Do you have any plans today Amy?" Kasumi asked as they were cleaning up breakfast.  
  
"Actually I've got a challenge match coming up this weekend and I was going to put in some practice, why?"  
  
"I was wondering if you wanted to come shopping with me?"  
  
"Shopping?"  
  
"Yes, there are some dresses that I want to look at."  
  
"I'm not much into dresses Kasumi."  
  
"I had noticed that you don't own any, why not?"  
  
"I was raised to be a tomboy I suppose. My up bringing was all about fighting and nothing else. Every girl I ever met either wore pants or some kind of armor and neither of those had anything resembling a skirt."  
  
"Would you consider giving it a try? Please?"  
  
Amy shrugged, it didn't sound all that bad. "Sure, I guess, I have worn them before."  
  
"Can I come along too?" Ranma asked from behind them.  
  
Amy and Kasumi turn and give him an odd look that has him squirming uncomfortably. They look at each other grin and shrug. "Sure Ranma, though if you do I want you to get a dress too." Amy said with a grin.  
  
"What? I just wanted to come along, not play dress up..." Ranma said suddenly.  
  
"That's the deal buster. I want you to pick out a female outfit that you would like to wear. I won't force one on you, but I want it to be a dress or a skirt of some kind. Got it?" Amy said as she glared at the boy.  
  
"But I'm a guy Amy..."  
  
"What did I tell you before Ranma? I don't mind your female form and since you can switch back and forth I want you to look good in either form."  
  
Kasumi's eyebrows shot up over her hairline at that.  
  
"But...Amy..." Ranma whined.  
  
"Ranma."  
  
"Alright Amy." Ranma conceded and left the kitchen.  
  
"What was that about Amy?" Kasumi asked carefully. She had hoped that Ranma and Amy might hook up, but she hadn't been holding out all that much hope for it. Ranma was very hard to catch, no matter what she had told his mother..."Oh My!"  
  
"What?" Amy asked, looking a little nervous.  
  
"You did what all the others had failed to do?"  
  
"What do you mean Kasumi?"  
  
"You caught Ranma and he is agreeable to the idea?"  
  
Amy tried to not blush, she failed miserably. "Um..."  
  
"Oh my! Give me all the details." Kasumi gushed. She was a little sad for Akane, but her little sister had made her choice with Ryoga.  
  
Amy gave Kasumi a little smile. "I got him to kiss me last night."  
  
Kasumi gasped. "No one has ever been able to do that and only Akane has ever come close to getting one out of him before."  
  
"Really? I would have thought he had a little experience, he certainly seemed to know what he was doing." Amy said with a sigh.  
  
Both girls giggled just as Ranma, now female, walked back into the kitchen and flopped down. "Now what?"  
  
"I think we need to get you some bras and panties..."  
  
"No! I won't wear them!" Ranma growled out.  
  
"Why is that?" Amy asked calmly. She didn't know it but this actually brought Ranma up in shock. He was so used to Akane's instant mallet that he had expected to be hit again for being so up front.  
  
"I may look l-like a girl, but I am not one..."  
  
"I disagree."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You are very much a girl, those breasts are a very good reminder and since you refuse to wear a bra they bounce so deliciously when you run or jump. It would draw the eye of every man in sight as they jiggle and sway to your movements." Amy said in a seductive tone that made Ranma blush and Kasumi had to bite her hand to keep from laughing.  
  
"I am a guy no matter what I look like." Ranma mumbled. He thought back to his previous life and shuddered, he just couldn't accept that used to be him. I was just to weird, he liked the new abilities, but everything else sucked about it.  
  
"Well I was planning to just get you some sports bras and plain panties. I guess I will have to get more lace and satin now." Amy mused.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"What do you think Kasumi, lots of lace and trim?"  
  
"Naw it's just on Ranma, I was thinking something along the lines of spandex or leather."  
  
"Yeah, I can live with that!" Ranma said quickly.  
  
"...but I wanted to see her in a baby doll nighty, light blue and slightly see through..." Amy blushed as she thought about it.  
  
Ranma pictured that, gaped and turned bright red.  
  
"Maybe some thigh high stockings or..." Amy continued, drooling slightly.  
  
Ranma fell off the chair and fainted.  
  
Amy giggled and winked at Kasumi who was blushing as well, a very bright red color that covered her entire face. "I don't know about you Kasumi, but that reaction is just so cute."  
  
"AMY!!" Kasumi gasped.  
  
"Heh."  
  
They finished up the morning chores before Ranma woke up and waited for Kasumi to grab her purse. It took a little doing, but they managed to drag Ranma with them to the mall by threatening him with a various types of female clothing and accessories.   
  
Just like the last time they had been there, Ranma loosened up and managed to try on several dresses as the morning passed, once he got used to the idea that Kasumi was there and no one was going to make fun of him he got into it a little and started to have fun with it. Ranma told Amy at one point when Kasumi was in the dressing room that he had decided to see if he could actually do something normal for a change.  
  
"Normal?"   
  
"Yeah, not to get hit for doing this or attacked by Ryoga, Kuno, Mouse, or Taro for some weird reason that would only make sense to them. Anyway I had a lot of fun the last time we did this and I wanted to try it again."  
  
"Huh? Then what was with all that complaining this morning?"  
  
"I had to put on a good show for Kasumi and whoever else was listening."   
  
"Who was listening?"  
  
"Nabiki, she has the house wired so that she wouldn't miss any news that may pop up out of the blue. She uses those girls that owe her money to spy on others to reduce their debt."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"She had me doing little odd jobs for her at one point with several threats to make sure the family didn't find out about it. One of them was running packages to people's houses, playing bodyguard, etc. It was a pain in the ass, but eventually the crew caught up with me and caused a big fight. Can you believe she fired me for causing so much trouble?"  
  
Amy giggled. "Yeah I can, she's been trying to blackmail me for several days now."  
  
Ranma just nodded, he knew how that went. She looked over at some of the dresses and saw a large sale sign and pointed it out to Amy. "I'm going to go and see what they have over there."  
  
"Sure." Amy said. "I'll wait for Kasumi to get out."  
  
"Okay."  
  
Several minutes later Amy and Kasumi make their way over to the area Ranma had pointed out. I was a section for new types of clothes, odd styles and types from all over the world. They looked around for Ranma, but the are looked deserted. Then they saw her and gasped, Ranma had found the martial arts section of clothing. She was dressed in this outfit that even a normal girl would be hesitant to wear; it was so...so...out there.   
  
Ranma was standing in front of a mirror wearing this black stretch outfit. The first thing they noticed was the miniskirt, it stretched around her hips like a second skin. When Ranma moved around a little they could see all the muscles in her ass shift and move in some exotic way, it made Amy weak in the knees just to see it. The next was the thigh high black wet leather boots, and then came the matching arm bracers and leather halter top. It all glistened in the store lighting, showing off even more of Ranma's curves and had Amy panting a little.  
  
"Ranma, that thing is indecent!" Kasumi said, blushing clear to her toes and wondered what Tofu would think of her in that.  
  
"I decided that if was going to dress as a girl and Amy wanted me in a skirt and normal female clothing, I would dress the way I wanted to and I like this outfit."  
  
"Ranma that outfit is going to drive every man in sight wild, you might have to beat them off." Amy said, her eyes glued the cleavage of Ranma's chest.  
  
"I was thinking that this would be a great outfit to wear the next time I'm stuck as a girl full time and have to go into a battle."  
  
A thought occurred to Amy and she barely managed to keep from blushing and had to bite her tongue to keep the question from popping out of her mouth. Ranma hated female clothing, especially underwear, instead preferring to wear boxers if at all possible. That stretch skirt was gripping her waist and thighs so tightly that she couldn't be wearing any kind of underwear under there, she couldn't see any panty lines either. "Um...Ranma?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
**********  
  
"You don't like to do anything halfway do you Ranma?" Amy asked.   
  
They had finished shopping about an hour earlier and were headed back to the dojo on foot to enjoy the rest of the day. Kasumi had decided to go an see if she could borrow a book from Dr. Tofu and left them to walk the rest of the way together. She was moving kind of fast and had taken all her packages with her so Amy was almost positive that she had been planning something for the good Doctor.   
  
"I figured that it would be better to get over everything at once."  
  
"I'll say, even I would be hesitant to wear that leather outfit you bought. Still, you were absolutely gorgeous in it, I couldn't take my eyes off of you."  
  
Ranma grinned. "I noticed, it's one of the reasons I bought it."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"After what we did last night I figured..."  
  
"That's so sweet of you Ranma. I suppose I could get a place of my own so we could do that all the time." Amy said as she blushed.  
  
Ranma gasped in shock and bushed even redder. "Um..."  
  
"Heh."  
  
Everything has a limit and Amy wasn't all that surprised to have her fun brought to an end as they suddenly felt a chill goes down their backs, it was so strong that they had to stop and look around. She wasn't sure what it was, but there was a feeling in the air that just didn't seem right, there was also something about it that was very familiar too. The sounds of traffic in the distance seemed to be the same and so were the birds and people around them, so they were the only ones to notice the change in the feel of the world around them. The chill hit again and in the distance they noticed a column of smoke rising into the sky.   
  
"I thought we had a few days left before he showed up?" Ranma said.  
  
"There are at least three of them left as far as I know."  
  
"Then what is it?"  
  
"Probably Siefried, he never was very patient to begin with."  
  
"What about our stuff?" Ranma asked as she held up the bags.  
  
"Transform and put them in subspace, which should take care of that while we look into this little wrinkle."  
  
"Right."  
  
They looked around to make sure no one would see them as they jumped to a nearby rooftop and transformed on the run. A few seconds later all their packages vanished from sight as they were placed in subspace. After that they started to pick up speed and seemed to almost fly over the roofs of the buildings below them, only this time they were in their Guardian Knight outfits as they raced across town. Ranma in her white and Amy in red with the edges etched in back flame.   
  
It only took a few minutes of roof hopping to reach the where the smoke was coming from and they landed on a nearby roof to observe the scene below them. It was an open construction lot with what looked to be the shattered remains a half built house, it was on fire. On the far side of the ruined building they both saw Sailor Pluto firing off blasts to finish destroying the rest of the house. There were signs of the place being evacuated in hurry and Amy wondered if there were any casualties buried under the downed building.  
  
"This house wasn't done being built yet, why is she blowing it up?" Ranma asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. She has been acting really weird lately. Look over there, this place was being worked on, whoever was here was forced to drop everything and run for it."  
  
"She tries to kill you and you call it weird?" Ranma asked in surprise, which was something even she would have been careful about.  
  
"Sure, like you I have lots of people out for my blood, who cares if someone else is added to the list. Anyway Pluto has always been a bit unstable when it came to completing her mission I thought she was just being a little excessive."  
  
"Lets deal with her and be done with it, she is alone and this will give us a chance to finally deal with her."  
  
Amy blinked and shook her head. Those added memories had improved the way he thought in a lot of areas. "Right, that sounds good to me."  
  
"Let's go."  
  
They jump down to the ground on the other side of the burning building and head over to where Pluto was just finishing off the house. She turns and smiles evilly at them the instant they make there presence known, her eyes are enough to make even Amy think she may have misjudged Pluto's actions the last time they fought. Her eyes hadn't looked like this and she had seemed to be doing her job in the usual misguided way.   
  
She is in even worse shape than the last time Amy had saw her. The girl's fuku is incredibly dirty, its skirt was ripped up the sides to show off her perfect thighs. And her long green hair was a mess of matted knots and snarls that would take forever to get out. She actually smelled even worse than she had the day before! Even worse though were her eyes, those haunted eyes that seemed to know what has happening and couldn't do a thing about it, Amy tried not to look about them too much because they looked a little maniacal.   
  
"It's about time." Pluto snaps and powers down her staff to look up at them.  
  
"What are you doing Pluto?" Amy asks as she jumps off the building and lands nearby, being this close was even worse and she had to clamp down on her senses to make sure they weren't overwhelmed..  
  
"Just blowing things up let people know I'm here and waiting for some of you peons to show up so I can kill you." She grins in a happy way.  
  
"Cut this out Pluto, we don't have to fight, let's just talk this out."  
  
"We are trying to help you know." Ranma says. She has vague memories of Pluto from long ago, but they are odd and not very comforting.   
  
"Crystal Tokyo is gone because of you, I will not let you live, not after everything I went through has been destroyed."  
  
"It's gone?" Amy gasped.  
  
Pluto didn't even bother to try an listen to any arguments as she shot forward and attacked, her staff whirling around in a deadly arc that Amy barely avoided. This was a side of Pluto she had never thought to see, but now that she had time to look her over without having to defend for her life, Amy was finally able to figure out some of what happened to the green haired Scout.   
  
It seemed that she was operating on pure emotion alone with no conscious thought from her mind in regards to her actions. The Scout was out of control and on the verge of losing complete control. What ever had happened to her was somehow making the decisions now. Pluto had spent centuries guiding the time line so that Crystal Tokyo would be created to rule over the planet and bring about a kind of flawed world peace.   
  
  
  
Now according to Pluto it was gone and she seemed to have lost what little sense she had left, even the other day when they had fought she hadn't been like this and that meant that it was getting worse.   
  
Amy saw an opening and her leg lashed out to slam into Pluto's stomach and sent her flying back several yards, she was right on Pluto's tail. The red head wasn't about to let it end there and hopped forward to lash out with a multiple punch attack the instant Pluto showed any sign of recovering from the attacks. She kept it just slow enough to see how Pluto reacted to the assault on her person, this was their second fight and Amy wanted to see what the woman had in the way of skills.   
  
Ranma had decided to let Amy take care of this for now, she kept back to watch how things went and would interfere only if Amy needed it. She didn't want to admit it, but she was also still wounded from what her father had done to her the day before in that stupid fight, the wound was only about half healed and quite painful. That kind of damage wasn't healed overnight, it would be a couple of days before she was at peak condition again, until then she would have to be careful. Ranma watched silently as Pluto's staff spun around and lashed out, only to be blocked and redirected by Amy, she kicked out and slammed Pluto in the stomach again, but this time Pluto used the hit to spring back and bring her staff around.  
  
"DEAD SCREAM!!"  
  
The staff flared and fired off a large blast of pink and black lightning, much different than what Amy remembered as her signature attack. Amy gaped in surprise and was barely to dodge out of the way as the blast vaporized a large section of the wall that had been behind her. Amy cursed her inattention and proceeded to flare up her aura, this made a cloud of dust spring up and flow away from her and made her eyes light up like miniature suns.   
  
She launched forward for a second attack at a much more powerful level, but Pluto just laughed and held her staff high. It flared and a beam of power shot into the sky to hit the low hanging clouds and almost instantly turned them a deadly black and pink color then filled with deadly power. Amy didn't have time to stop her attack though so she decided to continue through with it and see what Pluto had in mind.   
  
  
  
The staff came back down and blurred as Pluto defended herself from Amy's attack, Amy was barely able to block. It was like Pluto had been holding back on her, but that didn't feel right either, something had changed about the green haired girl's attacks.   
  
Then she found out what the clouds were for as she used her left arm to block a quick lunge from Pluto. Just as it connected Pluto grinned evilly and whispered "Death Bolt!" Amy blinked as the mother of all lightning bolts shot out of the clouds and used her as a lightning rod. The pain was incredible as it seemed to melt her spine and she could only stand there and scream in pain just as she began to fall.   
  
Pluto spun the staff and hit her across the face at point blank range and sent Amy into flying across the street and through the front wall of a building. Pluto spun her staff around with a wicked laugh and she fired another DEAD SCREAM right into the building to set off a huge explosion.  
  
"KNIGHT SLATHER HERALD!!"  
  
Ranma's attack fired off and flew across the construction site to smash into Pluto's staff and blew it out of her hands in a flare of energy. The white cloaked Guardian Knight launched off the roof as she flared up with power and destroyed a good portion of the roof in the process. She brought her arm forward and fired off a blast of energy, right into the ground at Pluto's feet. Pluto had all of a second to react before the ground at her feet seemed to lift up and exploded in a powerful blast that sent her flying back with a scream.   
  
Guardian Knight flipped to the ground and blurred from sight, only to reappear behind Pluto and lash out with the Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken, striking pressure points all along her back to freeze her in place and cause her some pain for her troubles. She wasn't able to use the full speed of the attack because of her shoulder, but enough of it to do what she wanted to.  
  
The effect this had was far different than what Ranma's rage filled mind had expected, which was for Pluto to be frozen, in pain, and eventually make her unconscious. Instead she froze and screamed as pain filled her world all along her back. Ranma blinked and watched in horrified fascination as this liquid like thing pulled itself off of Pluto's back and dropped to the ground like a large bucket of water and splashed all over the place. Pluto collapsed and convulsed for several seconds before passing out.   
  
It was kind of what she wanted, but a little more extreme than what should have happened. The liquid, which Ranma noticed could move on it's own was flowing across the ground and heading for Pluto again. It was slowly pulling itself back together and forming itself into a vaguely female shaped thing. Ranma's memories told her that this was probably a water elemental or something like one and had to be handled carefully.   
  
They were vulnerable to fire if her knowledge was in any way reliable, so she quickly flared up and fired off a burst of pure destructive energy. The thing was still recovering from being forcibly removed from Pluto to react and noticed the attack far to late for it to do much of anything.   
  
The blast was pretty impressive and the water Youma was vaporized into a large cloud of gas that slowly dissipated. Ranma then sighed and ran across the street just in time to see Amy pulling herself out of the ruble of the store where she had landed. She wasn't in the best of shape, her clothing had been all but destroyed and only her healing abilities seemed to have kept her from being killed by Pluto's attack.  
  
"Amy!" Ranma yelled.  
  
"Hi cute stuff..." Amy mumbled and grinned weakly. "You get the plate of that bus that hit me?"   
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"You know something strange, in my own world I am nearly unstoppable, but in this one I am constantly being knocked out or nearly killed by things that I can usually just brush off, it's kind of irritating."  
  
"You'll be fine Amy, you can't die remember?" Ranma said, a couple of tears running down her face.  
  
"Of course I'll survive; this is nothing to even worry about. I'll be up and about in a few hours."  
  
Ranma could only nod happily.  
  
Ranma helped Amy to her feet and they hobbled back across the street as when the two of them saw some movement in the lot, off to the side of the destroyed building. They got there just in time to see Sailor Pluto slowly starting to stand and holding her head in pain. She looked different to both of them, less threatening or something. She shook her head a couple of times and turned to look at them in confusion before she paled just as she fell to her knees.   
  
"It's all true?" she whispered.  
  
"What is Pluto?" Amy asked.  
  
"I tried to kill both of you, didn't I?"  
  
"Yep." Ranma muttered and shrugged.  
  
"Oh god! Of all times for this to happen. Why right now?"  
  
"Are you back to normal Pluto, I don't want to fight you anymore." Ranma said, though her eyes said otherwise.  
  
"That thing tried to possess me, I resisted as best that I could, but there was only so much I could do as it invaded my body and mind." Pluto's body wavered and her uniform shifted down into her normal clothes to reveal a very pretty older woman. Ranma shrugged it off as Setsuna looked down at herself in horror. Ranma didn't really care who she was, so long as they were done fighting with each other.  
  
"I don't care who you are Pluto, you've just come out of a prolonged ordeal and you need rest. Is there someone you can call for help?"  
  
Setsuna, formally Pluto, shook her head. "No, the Outers were my friends, but if my memory is working right they are dead now."  
  
"They are, Usagi wasn't very happy with them, but she didn't want them to die like they did."  
  
"What of Saturn?"  
  
"Which one is that?"  
  
"The young girl, short dark hair, about twelve years old, has this large glaive?"  
  
"I last saw her just before Siefried showed up and killed the Outers." Amy said.  
  
"Was she dead?"  
  
"No, just unconscious."  
  
Setsuna nodded and staggered to her feet. "What happened to that thing that was using me?"  
  
"I killed it." Ranma said quietly.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Turned it into a cloud of gas? Why?"  
  
"That thing was very strong, it may still be alive, just floating off to lick its wounds." Setsuna said as she pulled out her communicator. "Usagi?"  
  
  
  
"Setsuna!!?" Usagi's voice yelled out of the communicator.  
  
"Hi Princess, Nova and Guardian Knight just managed to free me from this thing that was trying to possess me."  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"For now. I'm just a little weak at the moment. Do you know where Saturn is?"  
  
"No, we haven't seen her since the fight in the warehouse district. We thought she might have went to join Haruka and Michiru." Usagi said sadly.  
  
"I don't think so. If she had died I would know about it though the link I have with all the Outers."  
  
"Oh. Where are you now, do you need some help?"  
  
"Yes, I need a place to stay for the night."  
  
The communicator beeped and Rei popped into the conversation. "You can stay at the temple Setsuna, we've always got plenty of room."  
  
"Thanks Rei, I didn't want to ask, but..."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"I'll be there in an hour or so."  
  
"Of course."  
  
"I'll meet you there." Usagi said as she hung up.  
  
Setsuna sighed as she put the little device away and turned to look at Ranma and Amy again. "I'm heading to the Temple, do either of you need help?"  
  
"No thanks, just a little rest and we can make it on our own." Ranma said. "What do you say?"  
  
"I could stay here all day." Amy said and smirked at Ranma. She was being held in her arms, her head on Ranma's shoulder. Setsuna decided that this would be a good time to leave and soon disappeared, Neither Ranma or Amy really noticed since they were a little occupied with each other. Amy didn't want to admit it, but she knew if there were anymore fighting today she was going to be in a fair amount of trouble. She had nothing left and had to get some rest, now all she had to do was make it home.  
  
**********  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
Ending notes - the next chapter should be the last one so keep an eye out, I hope to have it done soon... 


	17. Strange Days16 Epilogue

Notes – After all this time I'm a bit surprised to be finishing this story, but here is the final chapter of Strange Days.   
  
Now why in the world do I feel kind of funny? Snow…in hell? O__O  
  
Site – http://shi_hanna.tripod.com  
  
**********  
  
Strange Days  
  
Chapter 16 and Epilogue  
  
By: Cory D. Rose  
  
ertle2@msn.com  
  
(C)2003  
  
**********  
  
Imagine his surprise when he came upon his Ranma-chan snuggling with another girl in the ruined remains of a house, some fires burning all around them as they kissed. It was enough to make his old heart warm over with pride, except for one small detail, Ranma was kissing another girl as a girl. That was all wrong, that kind of play came later in the act. Instead he should have been ravaging that girl like only a man could. Happosai thought to himself as he crouched in the shadows of a nearby rooftop and watched the scene below him with perverted interest.  
  
On one hand he wanted to go down there and let them know they had been caught, on the other he wanted to show his student the 'proper' way to love the female body. Unfortunately Ranma was very stubborn and he had never taken to his proper training with much enthusiasm so this wouldn't have been any different so he just watched them and wondered if he could get away with taking their underwear. Ranma was constantly getting in his way and stopping him from rescuing his silky darlings from their unjust enslavement after all so taking if from a female Ranma was always a lot of fun. A perverted grin formed on his old face as he looked down at his student just in time to see the other girl open Ranma's shirt and 'play' with the goodies inside and Ranma didn't seem to mind all that much.  
  
That was a reaction that Happosai hadn't expected, Ranma had always hated his curse so what could have happened to alter that. A question like that was easy enough to answer, that girl with Ranma must have accepted both of his forms unconditionally and liked to play with both. That was a kind of perverseness that Happosai envied unconsciously as he watched, slowly drawing in the erotic energies that were being generated by the two lovers. That was the kind of stuff that he lived for and it was, to Happosai's delight, more powerful than a normal coupling should have caused.  
  
He nodded as he came to a decision, there was something different about this scene and he wasn't going to interfere just yet. The two of them would be having a little talk later about that so called test of mastery that he had taken against Genma the day before. There was no way that he was going to allow that to stand unless he thought the boy was ready and that meant passing certain tests that he hadn't taken yet. He leaned back against the wall that was lost in the shadows and grinned as he pulled out some popcorn and watched the show below him.   
  
His fun was interrupted a few minutes later though as another presence intruded on his free time. He looked over to see Cologne standing at the edge of the building, hatred and anger written all over her face as she watched the scene below and snarled. "You better not be thinking of interrupting them Co-chan, it's a pretty good show so far."  
  
"Son-in-Law has broken my village's rules and I will pay for the death of my Great Granddaughter." Cologne hissed.  
  
"I saw that fight Cologne, Shampoo was killed by those cuties in the colored skirts."  
  
"He is responsible for my Great Grand Daughter just like a husband should be."  
  
"He never walked down the aisle so he has no responsibility to your outdated laws of male dominance."  
  
"I don't care, he will be broken even if I have to kill everyone he loves or cares for." Cologne said with an evil sounding giggle.  
  
Happosai may have been an evil pervert, but he recognized the signs of demonic possession when he came across it and noticed what Cologne had done to herself. He looked to Cologne's aura and confirmed that it was almost completely black and that she wasn't doing much to stop its advance on her mind. That was a bit of a surprise really, the old girl had always had more self control than him and for her to be taken in by this kind of thing was just plain stupid. He rolled to his feet and walked over to her, looking her new clothing over as well.   
  
"Is that a ninja suit?"  
  
"It is easy to move in, especially because of my extreme age and skill."  
  
"Bah!!" Happosai said with a wave of his hand. "Don't give me that kind of armature crap. We both know the real reason why you're dressed like that."  
  
"What would a thief like you know about it?"  
  
"I was in your village long enough to learn some things, like when an Elder was overstepping her bounds or when it was time to put down a male for getting above himself in skill. You're no longer an Amazon are you? I can see all the signs you know, and the change of clothing is a dead give away, you wouldn't have given up your position as an Elder unless something had happened to force you out. Like playing with the forbidden magic perhaps, or delving into things that you weren't supposed to?"  
  
"I don't care. I will make that boy pay for ruining my life and my heir's life with his arrogance."  
  
"I can't allow that Cologne." Happosai said with a serious note in his voice.  
  
"You couldn't stop me now even if you wanted to Happi; I am a hundred times stronger than when we last fought, don't make me take a portion of my revenge on Ranma out of you as well."  
  
"He is my best student to date baby, I won't let you ruin that because you can't stand to have a man be stronger than you. This is sheer arrogance and has nothing to with revenge or anything else. You gave up your soul Cologne; I can see it as plain as day. Give it up or you will regret it."  
  
"You don't have the strength to stop me anymore." Cologne snapped at him.  
  
"Do you truly think that I've ever had to use my full strength against Ranma or any of these other weaklings here in Nerima?" Happosai said with a wicked grin. "I have earned my reputation Cologne, I rarely fight at my full power unless the situation demands it and right now I'm protecting my student."  
  
Cologne glared at him and let her battle aura flare around her even as Happosai copied her. For several seconds they stood there watching each other, and then they attacked with a speed that would have surprised anyone that knew them. They're auras slammed together and merged for a brief second, and then they connected at speeds that allowed for hundreds of actions per second. Down below Ranma and Amy jumped to their feet and looked up at the building where they were fighting and dove for cover as the top floor imploded upward. Lighting the night sky up with fire for several seconds, Cologne and Happosai fought within this and used their auras to keep the fire from harming them. They moved at such speeds that they were able to bounce from one piece of debris to another without having to worry about some of the natural laws.  
  
Narrowing his eyes and focusing his aura even more, Happosai tapped into his version of the Ascension of the Dragon God Technique that Genma had been teaching to Ranma lately. His Aura expanded outward, increasing his speed and strength well beyond what was normal and for the briefest of seconds he was moving so fast that Cologne was standing still in mid movement. His fingers lashed out, tapping the little pins and amulets all over her ninja suit, followed by a kick to the face that would send her rocketing back off the edge of the building when he stopped moving.   
  
He hadn't accessed this much of the technique in at least a century and was mildly surprised to find just jus how easy it was. Once in position he slowed down just a little and smirked evilly as Cologne resumed her movement, the magical devices exploding all around her. He got to watch as her eyes shot wide open in shock and as his speed delayed kick connected with the force of a cannon shell.  
  
Her head snapped back and he winced as he heard her spine shatter from the force of the blow. Her aura died even as her body flew off the top of the building and landed on the ground below. Jumping off the destroyed roof, he landed beside her twitching body and kept his aura flared just enough to protect him in case she committed suicide and tried to take him with her. He spared a glance at Ranma and Amy as they gaped at him from nearby before turning back to Cologne and narrowing his eyes. Even with that kind of damage she was still trying to shape her aura and repair the damage using a forbidden technique. Happosai had to respect her for that at least, she had always been one of the few girls in his life that could be just as sneaky, evil, and determined enough to use a technique that could suck pure life force from any living thing nearby and use it to fix one's wounds.  
  
"Well Cologne? Now what are you going to do? You're broken completely, your days as a fighter are over and even if you could repair your broken body with that technique you should know that I still haven't hit my full power yet."  
  
"W-ill kill...you a-all..." Cologne gasped out.  
  
"I always did care for you Cologne, you would have made find wife, but your laws and attitude were enough to keep me from taking that final step into slavery. Breath your last old friend, I will make this quick." Holding out his hand, Happosai collected a large amount of Ki in the palm of his hand formed a ball of Ki.  
  
"Happosai don't, it's not to late..." Amy yelled out.  
  
"You're wrong Guardian."   
  
Amy blinked in shock, the only people she had told that too were Cologne and Ranma. "Huh?"  
  
"I'm not stupid girl, I know of your kind and lot more as well. This has been a fine adventure, the most excitement I've had in decades actually, but when Cologne here sold her soul for power it ruined it all for me. There is no way to get her back now." Happosai said sadly as he raised his hand and focused some more.  
  
"Amy?" Ranma asked, he didn't know what to do and had a strange feeling that Happosai was about to free Cologne in some way.  
  
"Cologne isn't human anymore Ranma, she gave up the one thing that would have allowed her to rest in peace when she died for the power to hurt us. Once she dies, she will be judged and punished by the gods of this dimension." Amy explained. "This will make it so that she has a fighting chance against being punished for eternity. She sold her soul, but hasn't killed anyone yet. If we leave her like this she will eventually kill someone and that will doom her forever."  
  
Happosai nodded sadly. "She was my friend, but I wish it hadn't come to this."  
  
"Alright, after Saffron I know that there are times that taking a life are necessary. I don't like it though..." Ranma muttered darkly.  
  
Glancing at Happosai, Amy saw that he wanted to be alone to do this, so she took Ranma by the hand and led him out of the lot and headed home. They were about a block away when the heard the explosion and saw the flash of light. They both felt Cologne's life energy vanish at the same time, sighing, they took their time on the way back. Deep within their hearts they both knew that they wouldn't bee seeing much of Happosai for a very long time. Ranma had never seen him act like that and wonder for a second if it had been Happosai's true personality, the one that wasn't a lecherous pervert, but the warrior that he might possibly have turned out to be if had taken another path.   
  
**********  
  
Dressed in a set of dark robes Siefried stood in front of a large crystal case he had formed out of the very rock of the cave around him. Within its depths was a pawn he hadn't expected to get his hands on for a while yet, but a bit of good luck had been on his side when he came across her. Dark energy swirled about her body as it poured tiny amounts of corruption into her body with every passing second. He figured she would be done within a few hours and he would be able to send her against the Scouts as the perfect assassin. With a bit more luck she would even take out two other pests as well, though he would have to be careful how Amy Lee was killed.   
  
Who would think that Sailor Saturn would just fall into his lap? He grinned as he stabbed a bit more dark energy into her body using the pathways in her body that channeled her magic. Of all the Sailor Scouts this one was the most powerful in his opinion and the easiest to corrupt. She channeled the exact same energies of darkness that he and his people did and used them to kill. As far as he was concerned she just needed a bit of a mental adjustment and he would have the perfect soldier to lead his soldiers once he took control of this dimension. There would have to be a few adjustments though.   
  
Her mind for instance was full of pure energy, but he didn't really want to brainwash her into being his slave unless he truly had to. Reaching out he tapped a portion of the crystal and it focused more of the dark energy around her head and he used his power to guide it right to the one area of her mind that would make her his. He grinned as he felt her darker emotions beginning to surge and the will power she possessed as she fought against them while unconscious. So much power and ability wasted on one so young and helpless. Sending another surge of power he instructed the dark energies to begin aging her body into that of a woman.   
  
Inside Saturn's mind Hotaru was sitting on a large rock in the middle of an empty plain of dust and weeds. She wasn't sure what was going on but the sky above her was filling with dark clouds filled with dark magic. It hadn't started raining yet, but she had a feeling that if she was out here when it did start she would be in trouble. She shivered a bit in the cold breeze and tried to remember how she had gotten here. No matter how hard she searched she couldn't remember anything except that all the dust and weed plane that stretched on forever seemed familiar.  
  
"Where am I?" She asked herself.  
  
"Where the hell do you think you are?" Snapped a very familiar voice.  
  
She turned around on the rock and nearly fainted when she came face to face with her darker half, Mistress 9. Dressed in a black form fitting dress with a low cut front she was bent over showing a lot of cleavage as she stared at the teenager before her. Her long black hair cascaded down her body and onto the ground all around her with no apparent end to it as far as Hotaru could tell. "What are doing here?"  
  
"I've been here all along." Mistress 9 snapped and straightened up.  
  
"Well leave, you are not allowed here anymore."   
  
"Tut tut, the little girl seems to have gotten a spine transplant while I was trapped here. How very droll."   
  
"I said to LEAVE!" Hotaru screamed.  
  
"Who the hell do you think I am?" Mistress 9 snapped. "I am a part of you now and I will be here for the rest of your life."  
  
Seething in anger Hotaru jumped off the rock and transformed into Sailor Saturn. The Silence Glaive appeared in hand and spun around as she tried to cut Mistress 9 in half. Her darker half just laughed as the blade passed through and her body turned to smoke for a second and then reformed. She crossed her arms and smiled as something odd happened, as it was exactly what she had been waiting for. A bolt of lightning fell from the sky and hit the Silence Glaive and suddenly Hotaru fell to the ground shuddering as the electricity passed through her body.   
  
"Hahahah!" Mistress 9 laughed and looked over at the Sailor Saturn, who was looking down at Hotaru in confusion. She was looking at something that shouldn't have been possible.  
  
"What is going on?" Saturn asked Mistress 9.  
  
"I am her dark side. You are her heroic side we are here for some purpose otherwise I wouldn't have been able to appear like this."  
  
Groaning, Hotaru sat up and looked at the two halves of her personality and just sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"  
  
"Hey moron, it's not like I couldn't see this coming from the start." Nine snapped.   
  
Saturn looked around and noticed where they were and seemed a little shocked for a second.  
  
"What's wrong?" Hotaru asked.  
  
"This is home." Saturn said as she looked around. "Like what Saturn looked like back when I used to live here."  
  
Mistress 9 nodded. "I remember his desolate planet. This was such a boring place."  
  
"Shut up Nine." Saturn snapped, showing a bit of anger.  
  
Looking around again Hotaru had to agree with Nine for once and it made her feel a little dirty. "Yeah Nine, shut up." She muttered.  
  
"Humph! You say that now." Mistress 9 said, but I know the truth of this place and you don't Bwha hahahah!"  
  
Saturn spun the glaive around and placed it at Nine's throat. "I seem to be a bit more solid in this form than I was before, so if you want to die..." She threatened.  
  
Smiling nervously, Mistress 9 started to sweat a little. "I'm just trying to tell you two what is going on."  
  
"Right." Hotaru muttered and was about to say more when she spotted something in the distance. "What is that?"  
  
They turned and saw that there were two forms laying on the ground about fifty yards way. Saturn recognized the immediately and jumped into the air and jumped over to them and knelt down beside Uranus and Neptune. They looked like they had been through hell and barely managed to return, just to drop here in the middle of nowhere. She didn't look up as Hotaru came running up and started gasping for air.   
  
"Yep, they be dead." Mistress 9 said as she kicked Neptune's foot experimentally and grinned evilly. "Deep sixed, bug food, and all that. Such a beautiful shade of death too, it reminds me of the good ol'days."  
  
"What happened to them?" Hotaru asked as she knelt down beside Saturn and picked up Uranus.  
  
"Someone will pay for this." Saturn said with almost no emotion, but a rage could be seen building behind her eyes.  
  
"No." Hotaru whimpered and started to cry.  
  
"You pathetic &%$# don't have a clue do you?" Mistress 9 snapped.   
  
Black lightning flashed in the background and a peal of thunder rolled over them with a rumble that seemed to shake the ground itself. In that instant three things happened at once and it proved to be too much for Hotaru to handle by herself. As the two girls stood over the dead bodies of Sailor Uranus and Neptune, Mistress 9 took advantage of their grief and fired two bolts of dark energy. The movement caught Saturn's eye, but she wasn't' fast enough to react in time and a giant hole was blasted through her chest. She was propelled back about ten yards and skidded along the ground for several more feet. Hotaru took a shot to the chest as well, but when the blast hit her she was only knocked over.  
  
"What the hell?" Nine muttered. "Well at least I got one of them and the shrimp here will go down in a second."  
  
"I'm going to kill you." Hotaru snarled as she stood up, black energy started to swirl around her. Then her eyes took on an evil red glow and the Silence Glaive appeared in her hand even though she wasn't transformed.  
  
Mistress 9 just laughed and fired another bolt a her. "You can't win a fight with me here."  
  
"This is my mind, you said so yourself." Hotaru said and started walking forward, deflecting energy bolts to the side with the staff. "I control everything here."  
  
"I live here!" Mistress 9 screamed and powered up a massive blast of energy. "I will have your body!"  
  
Her hands thrust foreword and the blast fired from her hands. A beam of solid black energy so powerful that it pushed he back a couple of inches just to fire it. Filled with anger and grief over her the people she considered her parents Hotaru brought the silence glaive up, holding it in one hand and a huge sphere of energy formed around her and the air started to hum. She glared at Mistress 9 as she brought her arm down and leveled the blade at Mistress 9 and yelled. "Silence Glaive Surprise!"  
  
The two blasts, quite similar in appearance fired out and slammed into each other hard enough to shatter the ground where they were touching. Energy started to crest and wave back and forth as the two girls struggled to overpower the other. Making their blasts grow in size with each passing second. Hotaru groaned as her planet symbol formed on her head, a stylized 'h' that started to glow as she struggled to hold the attack. Across from her Mistress 9 looked like she was about to burst out laughing as she calmly channeled the powerful blast and knew she was just seconds way from winning. When that happened she would be able to whatever she wanted with Hotaru's body.  
  
Above them both they had both completely forgotten about the clouds that were filling the sky. They hadn't even noticed that as the minutes went by that the clouds were growing bigger and bigger as they got closer to the ground. They had really started to glow the two girls fought and massive amounts of energy was released into the atmosphere around them. Off in the distance some of the clouds had already reached the ground, rolling and spinning around as it washed every thing it could touch. Within seconds the only place it hadn't touched was where the two girls were fighting.  
  
The were gritting their teeth now as they poured everything they had into the fight, but Hotaru could tell that Mistress 9's blast was very slowly increasing in strength. She was at her limit and had no way to fight back against it no matter how much she tried. There was no way in hell she was going to give up, but she just wasn't sure how to take the disembodied spirit down permanently.   
  
"Give up! There is no way you can win!" Nine yelled.  
  
"Never!" Hotaru growled even as she felt her feet starting to give against the constant pressure. She had never had to hold something like this for so long and her weakened body was beginning to give out. The only thing keeping her up even then was her stubbornness in the face of certain death.  
  
"OHOHOHOHOH! Your body is mine little girl and there isn't a thing you can do about it!"   
  
Then the clouds of darkness rolled over then and they started to scream as the full force of the lighting storm hit them. Losing control of the energy they were throwing at each other it pools for a second and detonates. Explosions are seen for miles in every direction as spheres of energy rain down on the landscape and detonate like a carpet bombing. Through it all Hotaru's screaming can be heard and in that exact instant, out in the real world, Siefried reaches out and sends the final wave of dark energy into Hotaru's body.   
  
He watches as it spasms for several seconds, even then trying to hold off the dark energy, but it's quickly overwhelmed and her body shimmers within the crystalline coffin she's been in for several days. Siefried steps back and lets the door open to release the form within and smiles as she steps out. Hotaru's age is hard to determine, but it is immediately obvious that she now looks about twenty two or so and has ankle length black hair and a muscular body. Her shiny black eyes glare at him as she steps forward dressed as Sailor Saturn and holding her Silence Glaive.   
  
"Good Morning my dear." He says.  
  
"You." She snarls.  
  
"I just saved your life so you should be a little more thankful."  
  
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you where you stand?" Saturn snapped and Siefried noticed that her eyes had gone to a dull black and he smiled pleasantly.   
  
Everything was going according to plan. Then he held up his hand showed her a small marble sized bit of black energy floating in his hand. "I just removed Mistress 9 from your mind."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You need to get revenge on the ones that killed your parents don't you?" Siefried said mildly. He hid his grin as her eyes shifted again and took on that glossy shine again and he could feel the thirst for revenge just flowing from her body. He absorbed the energy as he stood there and made sure she didn't notice. Then he pointed to a nearby wall and it seemed to open up like pair of doors to reveal something that looked like a wall of liquid mercury. "Here, let me show you something."  
  
"What?" She snarled.  
  
He waved his hand at the wall and it shimmered for a second before a picture of Amy Lee appeared. In the pictured she started to move and within seconds it became apparent that she was fighting a large group of monsters in a hand to hand battle. She slaughtered them without mercy, each blow removing a head here, or an arm and leg there. She left a path of destruction on her wake that goes on for miles. "This is my enemy."  
  
"What is she doing?"  
  
"Killing a race of beings that haven't the sense to stop and run. She periodically goes to where they live and slaughters them like this just for the fun of it." Siefried explained. "I would like to ask you to stop her. They are ugly and mean, but they are only mindless animals that don't know better."   
  
Hotaru's eyes narrowed and she started to growl. Smiling, Siefried had to repress a laugh and coughed a bit to cover it up. He waved his hand again and a picture of Ranma popped up on the screen during his fight with Saffron. "Her partner here recently murdered the last of the phoenix and condemned its people to a slow death."  
  
"He is just as bad."  
  
"Indeed, though he isn't as dangerous as Amy is."  
  
"They will die." Hotaru hissed as she turned away and vanished in a burst of black light.  
  
Siefried just grinned a little wider and looked back at the crystal case she had been in. "Who would have thought that letting the silence that resides in her soul would have such a profound effect on the girl." He muttered. "She's so blood thirsty now that she will kill anything in her path and I didn't even have to waste much energy prodding the silence to awaken." He giggled a bit. "The show is about to begin and I think it will be a lot of fun to watch."   
  
He looked about for a second and waved his hand at the screen and brought up a real time image of Amy Lee and Ranma as they discussed what Happosai had done to Cologne the day before. He had hoped to send Pluto after her, but she hadn't been corrupted enough by that beast that had been sent to her and it had made her to erratic to control. Her defeat at Amy's hand made things a bit easier for him though since she had lost the use of her powers for a little while. Because of that he would be able to move the time table up by about twenty four hours.  
  
"I love it when a plan comes together." He said with a grin. It would have sounded better if he had a cigar though.  
  
**********  
  
The Taxi pulled to the side of the road and Setsuna got out and paid the driver. She looked up at the steps leading up to the shrine above and sighed. With a weary step she started to make her way up. Behind her the sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon and it gave her just enough light to see where she was walking. She adjusted her purse and took a second to push the hair out of her eyes as she finally reached the top step and looked around. The shrine was just in front of her and she could see a light on over the door.   
  
It opened even as she was walking over to it and Rei stepped out to greet her. As usual the girl was wearing her shrine maiden outfit. "Hello Setsuna, that took a little longer than I expected."  
  
"Sorry about the wait, I had to stop off at…the house and grab a few things."   
  
"Took the time to clean up a bit I see." Rei said as she led the green haired woman through the shrine.   
  
"Just changed clothes and grabbed my purse."  
  
They headed deeper into the shrine and Rei led her to a room near the back. "This is your room for the next few days."  
  
"Thanks, I shouldn't be here that long. Just long enough to recover from being possessed by that thing. Then I can start unraveling this mess with a clear head."  
  
"We hope so." Rei said. "The bathroom is just down there and should be ready if you need to use it. Just put the sign and lock the door if you need to use it. That should keep me or grandpa from disturbing you."  
  
"Thanks." Setsuna said as they entered the room. She noted that it was sparsely filled with the minimum amount of furniture. A desk, chair, mirror, and a small closet were the only things in the room. It didn't have the western type bed she was used to, but it wouldn't take her long to get used to a futon again. It was rolled up and placed beside the desk.   
  
Yawning, Rei backed out of the room. "I'm going to go and start sweeping the yard. Get some sleep and we can get the rest of the Scouts here later to discuss what happened."  
  
"No problem." Setsuna said as she knelt down and started to roll the futon out. She really needed to get some sleep.  
  
"I'll let the others know you are here if Usagi hasn't done so already." Rei said as she walked down the hall.  
  
She moved into the kitchen and took a minute to make a small breakfast before she headed outside and started to sweep the courtyard. It always amazed her that no matter how much she swept the thing it always managed to get covered in leaves in just a few hours. That was where Ranma and Amy found her when they ascended the steps and passed underneath the large gate at the top of the steps.   
  
Rei noticed that Amy had borrowed one of Ranma's Chinese shirts and that it was about two sizes too big for her. Other than that she looked about the same as normal, but Ranma looked like he had just fought twelve rounds with one of his rivals. He had bags under his eyes and a slight limp as he walked. "Hey Rei." He said as they walked over.  
  
"You two are here early. I haven't even called anyone yet."  
  
"We just wanted to check on Setsuna to make sure she made it here alright." Amy explained with a glance at Ranma."  
  
"She just arrived a little while ago."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"She said she had to stop at her place to grab a few things before coming here." Rei said. "As I understand it her two friends died when Siefried blew them up and she doesn't have any place to stay now."  
  
Amy nodded. "Were you going to call a meeting?"  
  
"Yeah, the others should be here in an hour or so."   
  
"Cool, I think we need to finalize our plan to fight Siefried today."  
  
"Do you think your grandpa's idea will work?" Amy asked. "I've never had much luck with plans like that."  
  
"So long as I can focus the energies I can make it work." Rei explained. "I've been training to do things like this all my life."  
  
"We need a back up plan." Ranma suggested. "Normally I wouldn't bother, but stopping this guy is just too important."  
  
"I've got my basic plan in mind." Amy pointed out. "We can still go with that."  
  
Rei shook her head. "I think it's too dangerous to leave the whole attack to you. We need to have Sailor Moon there to help as well."  
  
"Has Pluto said anything about our plan?"   
  
"No, but she hasn't been herself lately." Rei reminded her.  
  
"I thought she still might know about it with her connection to the Gate." Amy responded with a shrug as she looked towards the sunrise in the distance.  
  
"We can ask her when she wakes up."   
  
"Ask who? What?" Makoto asked as she trudged up the last few stairs.  
  
"We were just talking about Pluto." Ranma said. "We were wondering if she knew if our plan to take Siefried down would work."  
  
"She might." Makoto said. "But she can be so vague at times that it is almost impossible to figure out what she is talking about."  
  
"You're here early." Rei said. "Are the others on their way?"  
  
"Yeah, I saw Minako heading this a few minutes ago and Ami said she would be here in a little while."  
  
"What about Meatball Brain?"   
  
The brown haired girl giggled. "She said she would be here later."  
  
Rei growled. "I'll go and drag her here if I need to!"   
  
"Ami said she would swing by her house and pick her up." Makoto explained. "That's why she will a little late."  
  
"Well alright." Rei muttered.  
  
"Hi girls!" Minako yelled as she skipped over to the group. "It's too early for this kind of thing."  
  
"Maybe, but we need to make plans. The earlier we start the quicker we can get it done." Rei said.  
  
Minako yawned. "Still too early."   
  
Shrugging, Makoto glanced over at Ranma and Amy. "So what are you two up to? You are the ones that freed Pluto last night right?"  
  
"Yeah, though Ranma is the one that freed here." Amy said.  
  
"That's great!" Minako yelled and punched Ranma in the arm.  
  
"Hey!" He snapped.  
  
She held her hand and glared at him. "What are you made of, stone?"  
  
"Muscle." He said arrogantly.  
  
Looking around, Rei stares into the trees off to the side of the shrine and glares at something. "I sense evil."   
  
They all stopped and looked at Rei as she held her transformation peen in her hand. "What kind of evil?" Makoto asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, it's familiar though. It's as if I've sensed it before." Rei said. "I think it's just in those trees over there."  
  
Looking within the shadows that still clung to the trees as the sun rose up in the sky they had problems making out details. But after a few seconds that didn't matter as they heard foot steps moving through the underbrush. Sailor Saturn stepped out into the light, her Silence Glaive resting on her shoulder as she walked forward.  
  
"Unholy &%$#." Minako muttered at the imposing figure striding towards them.  
  
She no longer looked like the little Hotaru they remembered from just a few days before, but a fully grown woman. Whatever health problems she might have had in the past were no longer apparent. Instead she had a well muscled body with a dancers muscle definition that made them all take notice of her. Long black hair hung down in streamers around her as she moved, just barely touching the ground every time she took a step. Her fuku also looked like it had recently seen some combat as well, with bits of the skirt frayed at the edges, and her gloves were covered in ash and burn marks.  
  
"Saturn!" Rei yelled happily. "We've been worried about you!"  
  
Instead of answering Saturn continued to move forward, her dark eyes hidden behind the hair that hung over her eyes. They all backed up a bit as they realized that something was seriously wrong with their friend. Amy noticed almost right away that the girl seemed to be staring right at her or Ranma as she moved and had a really bad feeling about what was about to happen. The Scout of Destruction and Rebirth stopped a few feet from the group and glared at them.  
  
"You killed Uranus and Neptune." She snapped, he voice filled with power and loathing.  
  
"What?!" They yelled.  
  
"I will Silence you." Saturn said as she glared at Amy Lee and tightened her hold on the Silence Glaive. "Prepare yourself."  
  
"Hotaru! Stop this, we can talk it out!" Rei yelled, trying to get in between the two girls.  
  
"Stay out of my way Inner." Saturn snarled. "Or I'll add you to the list."   
  
Stunned, Rei stepped back and realized that the Scout of Destruction had just threatened to kill her. The others seemed to be just as shocked as they gaped at the girl that was supposed to be their friend. Ranma on the other hand had a different reaction as he stepped in front of Amy and glared at the Scout.  
  
"Back off girl, or you will have to deal with me." He threatened.  
  
"You are at fault as well Ranma Saotome. I have spent the last few hours learning more about the two of you. I have taken the liberty of extracting the information I wanted from your friends and family." Saturn grinned.  
  
"What?" Ranma asked flatly.  
  
"They didn't want to talk at first, but the fat male squealed like a pig and spilled his guts the instant I sat my blade against his neck." Saturn informed them and her grin got a little bit more menacing. "Then there were the girls, but they didn't take nearly as much to persuade. All I had to do was lie to them and they were more than willing to give me what I wanted."   
  
The rest of the Scouts began to pale a little. "Hotaru, what has happened to you?" Rei asked.  
  
"Siefried opened my eyes to the evil that walks among us. I will remedy that little problem right here and now." She stated and glanced back at Amy and giggled. It made them all wince. "You will be the first one to go. Then your boyfriend here will go and meet his father."  
  
"I can't let you do that." Amy said sadly. "Don't force me to fight you Hotaru, this isn't the way things have to happen."  
  
"Oh, but I must."   
  
"Your aura is full darkness Hotaru, completely black and the longer you stay this way the harder it will be to defeat Siefried and return this dimension to normal."  
  
"Lies! All you want to do is use us as cannon fodder to allow you to keep on killing innocent beings!"  
  
"What?!" Amy stammered. "What the hell gave you that…?"  
  
Suddenly she ducked as the Saturn's hand twitched and spun the Silence Glaive around to decapitate her. Rolling to the side, she caught a glimpse of Ranma and the others diving out of the way. She spun to her feet and slid a couple of feet before she stopped and saw that Saturn, grinning insanely, as she raised the Silence Glaive above her head. Amy cursed as the blackness within her aura started to distort the girl's features. "Time to be Silenced Amy Lee."  
  
"I'm not that easy to kill, Hotaru." Amy growled.  
  
"Hotaru, stop this!" The other Scouts yelled as they pulled out their pens, but hesitated to fight their friend.   
  
"We have a plan to stop Siefried. You don't need to do this!" Rei yelled. "No one has to die!"  
  
Saturn's head snapped to the side and Rei grunted as some force slammed into her and sent her flying away from the girl. She cried out as she slammed into the side of the shrine and slid down the side of the building. For a second the images before her eyes turned black and white, she heard her friends yelling, as if from a long ways away, and then things began to go dark by the time she reached the ground. She fell to the side, skin pale and eyes wide as the others ran over to her.  
  
"Rei!" Minako yelled in shock.  
  
"I will kill any of you that interfere in my mission." Saturn stated with a calm that frightened them. "Now where was I?"   
  
Growling, Amy concentrated and her Nova costume flared around her body with a burst of light. Her cape fluttered around behind her as she jumped back several yards and landed in a crouch. Then Saturn came down from above and tried to pierce her with the Glaive. Rolling to the side Amy brought her bracer up and deflected the fast paced blade as Saturn attacked her over and over again. Sparks flew from them ever time the two items struck each other. She wasn't prepared for Ranma to run forward and grab the handle of the Silence Glaive, but Saturn was and she gave it a twist and slammed the back end into Ranma's jaw with a loud crack that sent him stumbling back.  
  
"Do not interfere boy, you will die in a few minutes."   
  
'Who would ever think I would have to fight Sailor Saturn?' Amy thought to herself as she glanced at Ranma. He seemed to be okay except for a large bruise forming on his jaw. She didn't know if it was broken or not, but figured he would know how to deal with it safely if it was.   
  
"Makoto, we have to stop Hotaru." Minako yelled from behind Amy.  
  
"That isn't Hotaru anymore, Minako." Makoto snapped back and Amy was inclined to agree.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I mean that Hotaru isn't home right now. That is Sailor Saturn doing what she was designed to do."  
  
"The world is not in…" Minako started. "Well, okay it is about to be taken over by a psychopath, but we have a plan!"  
  
"She had never listened to us."   
  
"Less talk and more action!" Amy yelled as Saturn turned back to her.  
  
"They can't stop me from Silencing you Amy Lee."  
  
Standing straight Amy formed an aura of power around her and glared at Saturn and made a decision. "They don't need to. I can fight you quite well."  
  
Saturn just smiled and laughed a little. "I'm the last resort Amy Lee and there is nothing you can do to stop. You aren't strong enough."  
  
"Wanna bet?" She snapped back. "I've fought monsters much stronger than you Saturn. Trust me, if you force this I will stop you permanently."   
  
The Silence Glaive spun around Saturn in a blur and came to a stop pointing at Amy; the light gleamed off the edge. "It's time to finish this."  
  
Energy blades formed in Amy's hands as they started to circle each other, constantly watching each other for an opening. Then they suddenly shot forward and for the next few seconds they attacked, sparks flew from their weapons as they constantly slammed into each other. Behind them Makoto, Minako, and Ranma all took a second to transform in a burst of light. Venus took the opportunity to take command of the ones that were there like she was supposed to do when Moon wasn't around.  
  
"Guardian Knight! Take Rei inside as fast as you can." Venus ordered.  
  
"Right."  
  
"Sailor Jupiter, we need to stop Hotaru at any cost."  
  
"She's stronger than us Venus." Jupiter pointed out.  
  
"We can still slow her down. Look at Amy go, she's holding the girl off, blocking those attacks almost faster than I can see them." Venus said, and then saw something that shocked her even more. Usagi and Ami had just arrived and they were gapping in shock at the fight between Amy and Hotaru.  
  
Amy felt a change in the fight and moved just as Saturn jumped at her with he Glaive coming in from the side. She wasn't sure why Saturn's major attack hadn't been used yet, but she wasn't going to complain too much. All of a sudden Amy realized that the fight was heading right for Usagi and Ami, who still hadn't moved.   
  
The Glaive came in for a quick thrust and Amy deflected the blade to the side with her bracer. Sparks showered the two of them as the blade scared the bracer halfway along its length. "Move out of the way you two!"  
  
"Stop." Usagi yelled.  
  
Even after fighting her all this time Amy still had to marvel at how fast Saturn was with the Glaive. So she was a bit surprised when the handle shot out and slammed into the back of Ami's head as the two girls tried to get out of the way. The blue haired girl went down with a grunt of pain and collapsed at Usagi's feet. The blond could only stare in shock at her friend.  
  
"Run Usagi…" The blue haired girl tried to say as the world went dark around her.  
  
"Usagi!" Venus and Jupiter yelled as they ran over to their friend and prepared to attack Hotaru head on no matter what.   
  
With Ami knocked out on the ground Venus knelt down to check on the girl even as Jupiter stepped in front of Usagi and glared at Saturn. Usagi tried to run past them, but she stuck out her arm and refused to let the blond past. "Usagi it's too dangerous."  
  
Said blond ignored her, but she didn't move any further as she narrowed her eyes and looked at Saturn and Amy. "What do you two think you are doing?" She snapped.  
  
"I'm protecting myself Usagi so get out of the way before she decides to attack you too." Amy yelled back as she blocked several of Saturn's swift attacks.  
  
"I'm Silencing a threat to this planet, Princess." Saturn explained.  
  
"Stop fighting right now!" Usagi yelled.  
  
Instead of stopping Saturn picked up speed and Amy had to compensate by jumping back. She hit the handle of the Silence Glaive with her energy blade and wasn't to surprised when it failed to cut through. Another shower of sparks was a bit of a surprise, but not a big one. "Back off Saturn, the Princess has given you an order."  
  
Saturn hesitated for a second, and then she just seemed to come to a decision. "I know better."  
  
The Silence Glaive flared with energy and Amy cringed internally as she saw Saturn's aura turn a solid black. They had lost her to the chaos. Then the blade blasted through her defenses, slicing through her energy blades and slamming into her chest. Pain flared and Amy screamed as the blade pierced her shoulder and came out her back. She staggered back as the blade was pulled out and lifted into the air. Blood ran down the edge of the blade and onto the handle. It was an ominous sight.  
  
"Ah shit." Amy muttered.  
  
"No!" Usagi yelled and ran forward and placed her self between Amy and Saturn. "Saturn, back away from her right now before someone gets hurt!"  
  
"Do not get in my way Princess."   
  
Then Jupiter's fist slammed into the side of Saturn's face and sent the girl crashing to the ground. Whatever the reason, the blow had very little effect on the girl as she came to her feet and glared at Sailor Jupiter. "Do not interfere in my duty Jupiter."  
  
"I won't let you hurt Usagi." Jupiter snapped as she placed herself between Saturn and Usagi. "SPARKLING WIDE PREASURE!"  
  
She threw the ball of super charged electricity at Saturn, but it was slapped to the side by the Silence Glaive. The blast slammed into the ground nearby and exploded. Blowing a large hole in the ground where it had landed. In an instant Saturn was up and running at Jupiter, bent over at an almost impossible angle as she brought the Glaive around and swept Jupiter's feet. It sent the girl to the ground with a yell.   
  
Usagi was pulled out of the way by Amy and almost tossed back towards the shrine where Sailor Venus grabbed her before she fell down.  
  
Not one to be taken out so easily, Jupiter rolled to the side and flipped back to her feet. "JUPITER OAK EVOLUTION!"  
  
Saturn screamed and started spinning the Silence Glaive in front of her, creating a spinning shield in front of her. Knocking the multiple electrical blasts out of the air and sending them to the ground all around her. The multiple detonations filled the air and by the time Jupiter finished. Even before the noise died down Saturn was in motion, almost flying at Sailor Jupiter as she came out of the cloud of smoke that filled the air. The palm blow to the chest came out of nowhere and sent Jupiter flying back, but she managed to keep her feet under her as she sent her knee crashing into Saturn's chin. Attempting to knock the girl out, but Saturn seemed to just twist around it. Cursing under her breath Jupiter was suddenly being hit over and over again by the Silence Glaive as Saturn took advantage of the situation. She crashed to the ground, her vision blurry enough to make it impossible to for her to catch herself, and found herself on he back with the blade of the Silence glaive at her throat. It gleamed in the morning light.  
  
"Enough of this." Saturn growled as she stood over Jupiter.  
  
"Put the Glaive down and back away from Sailor Jupiter, Saturn." Usagi ordered as her body flared and Princess Serenity took her place. "Please Saturn, you are better than this, don't let it control you."  
  
"It's much too late for that, Princess." Saturn said softly. The blade began to glow with power that flowed over the shrine and caused everyone's skirts and capes to flutter in the wind. "SATURN DIVIDED WORLD!"  
  
"DEAD SCREAM."   
  
The Silence Glaive slashed out in a side to side arch that would have hit Princess Serenity in the ribs. The ball of light from Pluto's attack slammed into Saturn and disrupted the attack, slightly. Amy grabbed Princess Serenity when she realized that they wouldn't be able to avoid that unknown attack. She concentrated and they teleported right before the blade would have slammed into them. A wave of energy fired from edge of the Glaive and proceeded to cut a large trench in the ground and passed through the shrine, cutting it in half with an explosion of wood and dust.   
  
Time seemed to stand still for a split second before they heard Saturn scream in pain and fly across the courtyard. Then she slammed into the ground and skidded a few feet before she rolled to her feet. The Silence Glaive spun through the air and landed blade first into the ground nearby. Smoke wafted off of Saturn's fuku as she turned to glare at Sailor Pluto. She was standing next to Guardian Knight and using her to stay on her feet. "Pluto, that wasn't a very wise thing to do."  
  
"I will not allow you to kill the Princess."  
  
"I will Silence anyone that gets in the way of my duty, no matter how many try to stop me."  
  
"Saturn, we are at a crossroads. If we take the wrong actions now, Crystal Tokyo will never be given a chance to live. Too many changes have taken place, but if we defeat Siefried we can correct the damage that has been done," Explained the green haired Scout.  
  
"When Amy and Ranma die, time will be reset." Saturn yelled.  
  
The Silence Glaive flared with energy and vanished. Then it reappeared in Saturn's hand and she rested it on her shoulder again. Behind Setsuna, Ranma realized that the position was a hidden stance that allowed her to attack from any position with deadly accuracy. She glanced off to the side where Amy and Usagi were standing out of sight so that Saturn couldn't see them. This situation was getting out of hand and Ranma had a feeling that if Saturn wasn't stopped things were going to get much worse.  
  
"Do not try to stop me again Pluto." Saturn said.  
  
"Venus, prepare to implement that plan I told you about a few minutes ago." Pluto said to the blond Scout beside her.   
  
"No Pluto, you don't have to do that. We can stop her…" Venus said.  
  
"Venus, Sailor Saturn has been consumed be the Silence that gives her power. Hotaru is gone, Sailor Saturn is gone. All that is left is this thing, hell bent on the destruction of everything."  
  
"But…"  
  
"This isn't the time to argue Venus. DO IT!" Pluto yelled at the girl.  
  
Venus shivered a little as she pulled the Crystal Sword out of her subspace pocket and looked at it fearfully. The symbol of the leader of the Inner Scouts and it held a hidden power within its depths that even Ami hadn't been able to figure out. She glanced over at Amy who lay in the bushes nearby before she turned back to Pluto and nodded. "I disagree with this decision Pluto."  
  
"Noted, but there is only once chance to do this and remember what. Get ready."  
  
"What are you planning Pluto?" Saturn asked as the two talked and looked around.   
  
"I will stop you." Pluto stated.  
  
Off to the side Usagi, now transformed into Sailor Moon pales as she realizes what Pluto has in mind and she turns to Amy. "We have to stop Saturn before Pluto has a chance to set her plan into motion."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"She told me once what she would be willing to do if she ever had to stop Saturn from killing someone." Sailor Moon looked sadder than Amy had ever seen her. "She will kill herself to stop Saturn."  
  
"Things aren't that bad yet. Are they?" Amy asked.   
  
"Saturn has been completely taken over by the Silence that she uses to fuel her powers. She is lost to us now and there is only one way to stop her."  
  
"She…"  
  
"Amy, she just cut the shrine in half with an attack I've never seen her use before. He other attacks are so destructive that they can't be used in normal combat unless the enemy is about to win. She has an attacked called the Silence Glaive Surprise that can be used to blow up everything from a house to a city just by carefully controlling the power of the blast."  
  
Amy nodded.  
  
"Then her other attack can rip a planet to pieces once it gets going. It's called the Death Reborn Revolution and that is what Pluto is trying to prevent Saturn from using. Once she uses that we are all dead with no way to stop her."   
  
"Then it maybe a good idea for Pluto to use her plan after all." Amy said, and then admitted rather reluctantly. "I'm strong, but not strong enough to hold my own against Saturn for very long."   
  
"No one dies if I can stop it." Sailor Moon said with a note of finality in her voice.  
  
"Then what do we do Princess?" Amy asked.  
  
"We talk to her."   
  
"We've tried that."  
  
"Then we try it again!"  
  
Wincing a little, Amy nodded and they walked over to the others as Pluto and Saturn stared at each other. Sailor Moon didn't look very happy as she glanced over at the unconscious form of her friend Ami and wondered if she might be able to come up with a plan to stop Saturn from killing them all. "Saturn, please calm down."  
  
"It is too late for that, what has been done can only be undone by killing those two." Saturn yelled and raised her glaive above her.   
  
Pluto raised her staff as well. "You are forcing my hand Saturn."  
  
"I have no choice."  
  
Sailor Moon glanced at Amy, a pleading look in her eye that spoke volumes.   
  
"Pluto, back down for a little while, we still have time and committing suicide isn't the answer." Amy snapped.  
  
"Shut up Nova!" Pluto snapped. "This is the only way."  
  
"Bullshit. Your plan is so obvious that that even I can see what will happen. When you do that there will be no one around to make Crystal Tokyo come into being. You're the only one that can do that and you know it."  
  
"This is the only way." Pluto snapped at Amy without looking at her. Her eyes locked on Saturn's weapon as it began to glow with power.  
  
A chop to the back of Pluto's head sent the girl tumbling to the ground in a heap. The rest of the Scouts looked a bit startled and glanced at Amy as she rubbed the side of her hand. Moon looked happy and sad at the same time as she looked down at Pluto and thanked Amy for stopping her from doing something foolish. "Thank you Amy."  
  
"Sailor Moon, Saturn has to be stopped." Venus said as she held up the Holy Blade of the Moon.   
  
Amy glanced at it. In all her years she had never seen the blade in real life before. She had read about it of course and knew that it held great powers that made it incredibly dangerous. Its full power was unknown, but she knew that Venus had used it against Beryl on not one, but two different occasions. "Venus, you haven't used that sword in a very long time. Why bring it out now?"  
  
"Pluto said it was part of the fail safe used to keep Saturn from going out of control. She's vulnerable to its powers."  
  
Sailor Moon turned and looked at Jupiter, who had just gotten over to Ami and was carrying her back to the shrine. "How is she?"  
  
"Looks like a nasty blow to the head, but she should be alright." Jupiter said.  
  
"Good, can you take her inside and put her someplace where she can rest?"  
  
"Sure, I'll be right back."  
  
Stepping over to Ranma, Amy leaned in close to her ear. "We need to knock Saturn out or get Venus into a position to take her down. Any ideas?"  
  
"I'm not sure, but we could try hitting her from two different directions at once." She suggested.  
  
"Princess, we have to try something." Amy said.  
  
"Just try not to hurt her." Moon ordered.  
  
Amy glanced over at Venus for a second and realized that the blond might know a few things that the rest of them didn't. "Come on Ranma. Let's get this over with before anything does go wrong."  
  
"Alright."   
  
"Are you done planning?" Saturn asked. "I was getting a bit bored."  
  
"I think we got everything worked out." Amy said.  
  
"Good, cause I came up with a plan too."  
  
Amy and Ranma dashed forward suddenly, white and blue blurs that converged in on Saturn. Then the dark haired girl flashed forward and jumped into the air before either of them could reach her. Without even realizing what she was doing, Venus started to run as well, the Holly Sword of the Moon in her hand as she moved. Then several events happened at once and most were a little hard to follow.  
  
While in the air Saturn's eyes went completely blank as she lived the Silence Glaive above her head and she screamed. "SILENCE GLAIVE SURPPRISE!"  
  
Spinning around on her heel Amy hands came up and she fired a Nova Cannon at Saturn to try and alter her course and protect Sailor Moon.   
  
Venus pushed Sailor Moon out of the way as Saturn screamed and with the other hand threw the Holy Sword at Saturn.   
  
Moon yelled out even as she realized what was happening.  
  
The Nova Cannon is blocked by Saturn while she is in mid air, disrupting the Silence Glaive Surprise and it leaves her open to the flying sword. The shining blade fills the courtyard with sight as it flies through air and pierces Sailor Saturn's back and bursts out of her chest in a fountain of blood. She screams in pain and shock as she hangs in the air for a half second before falling to the ground. The Silence Glaive lands blade first, sticking out of the ground and still smoking from where the Nova Cannon had slammed into it. Most of Saturn's long hair had been burned off in the wave of power and she struggles to get up even with the sword sticking through her body.   
  
"This won't stop me." She snarls and starts to claw her way towards Amy. "You will die."  
  
Her hands came up and pointed themselves at Saturn. "You are down Saturn, let Sailor Moon heal you."  
  
"Diediediediedie…" She started to chant as she crawled forward.  
  
Ranma glanced over at Amy and wondered what they should do.  
  
Then with a final sigh, Saturn collapsed to the ground and her body seemed to rip itself to shreds from the inside out. Whatever came out looked like black streamers of some kind that spun, twisted, and literally ripped her to pieces before they stopped completely. By that time they had dug a large hole in the courtyard. Sailor Moon staggered over to the hole and fell to her knees as she looked down and saw a pillar of sparkling light rising into the sky. Reaching out she used her power to pull a small four pointed crystal from the crater and she held it to her chest and cried.  
  
"AND NOW! THE SHOW BEGINS!" Siefried's voice called out over the entire city.  
  
The Scouts all jumped and looked around at the smoky cloud like face that seemed to cover the city. It grinned, almost gently, as it started to rain fire upon the populous in a wave of destruction that flowed across the city like Tsunami. It leveled everything in its path as it moved to consume everything within sight. Sailor Moon barely noticed as she held Hotaru's soul in her hands and cried. The rest of the Scouts moved to shield her as the wave crashed over them and Siefried's mocking laughter filled their ears. All around the city, whenever someone died their body turned to energy and rose into the sky and into the clouds.  
  
"He set us up!" Amy screamed as she struggled to maintain the shield.  
  
Then the wave intensified and it was all they could do to stay in place as the ground began to shake. Behind them the shrine shattered into a billion pieces and was almost instantly consumed in fire. This left nothing behind but a cloud of ashes and enough heat to melt the skin off of a normal human. The Scouts weathered it all and came out of it unscathed a few minutes later as Siefried's first attack finished destroying the while city.   
  
Two bubbles of power seemed to shine out of the large cloud of ash that surrounded them. Amy glanced over at them and saw that Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury had been protected as well. They hovered, as if sleeping, a few feet from the ground and Amy realized that Sailor Moon had protected them by activating their powers with her crystal. She was still crying though and almost completely unresponsive to the world around her.   
  
"Venus, what do we do?" Amy asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, but let's see if Mercury and Mars are alright."  
  
Sailor Moon motioned with her hand and the two bubbles of energy floated over to her and deposited the two girls on the ground. She knelt down and made sure their wounds were healing up. "They should be fine in a few moments."   
  
"What about Pluto?" Jupiter asked.  
  
Everyone looked over at the green haired Scout. She was still unconscious on the ground a few feet behind them, though there was a sphere of energy around her as well. It winked out of existence even as they looked at it and Sailor Moon sighed a little as the power drain finally stopped. She glanced at the others and smiled a little. "I saved the one's I could."  
  
"I think we have bigger problems though." Amy said as she looked up in the sky where Siefried's face had been. In it's place he had transformed back into the old man they had met before, dressed in some kind of armor, and was descending to the ground amongst the ruble below them.   
  
Sailor Moon looked at her friends. "Did you all get a chance to place those crystals like Grandpa Hino suggested?"  
  
They nodded, to tired to speak.  
  
"Then we may have a fighting chance to win this."  
  
Kneeling by mars, Venus looked up at Sailor Moon. "Mars was supposed to lead the spell. If she's unconscious out chances of winning this are almost nonexistent."  
  
Holding out the crystal, Sailor Moon scanned her friend with its powers. "She isn't hurt to bad, so I think she should wake up here pretty soon. Mercury is in worse shape, but she should be up and about in an hour or so."  
  
"What about the rest of us?" Jupiter asked.  
  
Ranma shrugged. "We need to distract Siefried until Sailor Mars wakes up."  
  
Grabbing the handle of the Silence Glaive, and still sticking out of the stone of the courtyard from where it had landed. Amy yanked it out of the ground and examined it a little closer. She turned to look at Sailor Moon. "Can we use this thing's power in anyway without Saturn?"  
  
Sailor Moon looked horrified at such a concept.  
  
"Amy I don't think that may not be such a good idea." Jupiter muttered.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Surprisingly it was Sailor Venus who answered. "Well you see the only people that can use our weapons are Sailor Scouts."   
  
"You are impersonating a Sailor Scout, but you don't have one of the Sailor Crystals that make us what we are."   
  
"Then give me Sailor Saturn's powers."  
  
"That is impossible…" Venus started.  
  
"Amy, if you did that you would never be the same again." Sailor Moon said sadly. She was looking up in the sky watching Siefried descend.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Hotaru's Sailor Crystal would have to be merged with your soul for it to work and that just might kill you." She held up the crystal she had been crying over earlier. "These allow our souls to be reborn whenever we die in combat or of old age. Without them the Moon Kingdom would never have been able to survive in the way that it did."  
  
"I'll risk it." Amy said stubbornly.   
  
"You don't have to risk that Amy." Ranma said.   
  
"Ranma, we need Saturn's power for this to work. That thing up there has enough power now to remake this world. All he needs is just a little bit more and this whole dimension will belong to him." Amy looked a little sad. "It's my fault he's here in the first place and I have to do whatever it takes to make him leave."  
  
"I…understand." She said and looked away.  
  
"So when do we start?" Amy asked Sailor Moon.  
  
Nodding to herself, as if making some final decision, Sailor Moon held up her hand and appeared to grab something. With a burst of light a golden goblet appeared in her hand. The liquid inside glowed with the intensity of a sun as she raised it to her lips and drank it down. Amy winced and stepped back a little as she felt Sailor Moon's power level begin to skyrocket to a level she had never expected. As the last drop of the liquid vanished Sailor Moon turned into Super Sailor Moon and her whole demeanor had changed.   
  
Gone was the typical Sailor Moon outfit with its blue skirt and in its place was a white skirt with blue and yellow edging. The little puffs at the end of her gloves had turned a bright red and her back bow had turned pink and lengthened down to her calves. She turned and looked at Amy and held up Sailor Saturn's crystal. "Once I do this you will be forever changed."  
  
"I know what is coming." Amy said.  
  
"Then do you accept the power of Saturn and the duties that go with it?" She asked formally.  
  
"I do."   
  
The crystal in her hand started to grow brighter and brighter and within seconds its looked like a miniature sun. Squinting against the light Amy wondered if she had made the right decision for a second, then decided that it was to late to back away now. The light suddenly shrank into a tiny pin prick no bigger than a grain of sand and shot across the distance between her and Sailor Moon. It hit her in the chest and Amy felt the world change around her, filling her with a feeling she would never be able to describe even if she wanted to.   
  
To the others her red outfit, cape and all, flared and vanished as she suddenly flared with a bright light. A few seconds later when that vanished Amy was standing there in a slightly altered version of the Sailor Saturn uniform with the Silence Glaive in her hand. She had the white body suit, the purple skirt, and the black bow.   
  
But she also had a red band around the bottom of her skirt and her bracers had taken the place of the usual gloves. The crystals set within the bracers were glowing even brighter than they had before. Her red hair fluttered in the breeze as she assimilated the transformation and noticed all the changes that had taken place within her.   
  
"Amy?" Ranma asked as she stepped forward looking a little worried.  
  
"I'm fine." She said. "There are some odd changes going on within me, but nothing I can't handle."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Saturn's power is the power of destruction and it is channeled though the Silence Glaive. I can feel that power urging me to go out and kill everything in my sight."  
  
"You should also have a few other changes." Super Sailor Moon said.   
  
"Yeah, but they are just enhancing my normal powers." Amy explained. "There is even an instinctive knowledge on how to wield the Silence Glaive in battle. I can feel several techniques that I hadn't been aware of. Using them against Siefried should be a lot of fun."  
  
"You know all of Saturn's usual attacks right?" Venus asked.  
  
"Yeah, plus a few adaptations I wasn't aware of a few minutes ago. This is going to be a lot of fun."  
  
Super Sailor Moon stepped forward. "You are to never use the Death Reborn Revolution."  
  
"Of course." Amy lied.  
  
"Then we need to go and meet Siefried. He just landed a little while ago over in that large crater." Ranma said.  
  
"What are we going to do about them?" Jupiter said as she waved at Mars, Mercury, and Pluto.  
  
"I can wake Mars and Mercury up early." Super Sailor Moon said as she held up her crystal again.   
  
"You're using that to much." Venus said. "We can wait for them to wake up on their own."  
  
"No, we need them now."   
  
The crystal flared and bathed the two girls in its light and they instantly started to groan and wake up. Mars opened her eyes first and looked up at Super Sailor Moon as she slowly sat up. "What's going on?"  
  
"We need you to help fight Siefried."  
  
"What happened to Saturn?" Mars asked.  
  
"Sailor Saturn died." Moon said sadly. "Amy has taken her place."  
  
Surprise filled Mars' face as she looked around and spotted Amy wearing the slightly altered Sailor Saturn outfit. "Oh."  
  
"Mercury should be waking up here in a few minutes, can you get the plan set in motion while the rest of us go and fight Siefried?"  
  
"Yeah, I can do that. Do you remember what will happen when I set everything in motion?"  
  
"Yes, getting him there shouldn't be a problem."  
  
"Then go, I'll take care of Mercury…and Pluto." She said as she spotted the other unconscious woman.  
  
"Thank you Rei." Moon said. "Good luck."  
  
"What the hell happened to my shrine?!" Mars screamed as she stood up and noticed the destruction around her.  
  
"We have to go Mars, good luck." Moon said as she turned and ran down the stairs and started to make her way across the city.  
  
"This is just great." Mars muttered, and then something occurred to her. "Why was Usagi only at Super Sailor Moon level?"  
  
All of the Scouts except one had taken off after Super Sailor Moon and Amy didn't look like she was in to much of a hurry. If she would have looked down the stairs she would have noticed that Ranma was waiting for her. She glanced at Mars and looked at her for a several seconds.   
  
"What?" Mars snapped.  
  
"I have a pretty good feeling what is going to happen in the next couple of hours."  
  
"So what!"   
  
"I won't be around for to much longer." Amy said with a shrug. "I figured you had a right to know."  
  
"We will all survive this." Mars snapped.   
  
"Will we?" Amy asked with a smirk. "We'll see won't we?"  
  
Then an aura flared around her and she rose into the sky like a red star, still staring down at Mars. With a burst of energy she flew off into the distance and headed right to where Siefried had landed a couple minutes before. Down below Ranma rose up into the air and followed after her in a burst of blue light.  
  
**********  
  
Her Grandfather's plan had been quite surprising and Rei was still impressed with his simple minded approach to the demon that had managed to kill almost everybody in the district and suck up their lives to fuel his own power. After shaking Sailor Mercury awake she had explained what they needed to do and a few minutes later they had dug out a section of the shrine that had been protected from the blast that leveled everything else around it. The roof and walls were gone of course, but the rest of the room and the fire itself had managed to weather the storm of destruction.   
  
A circle had been placed on the floor right where she sat whenever she was talking to the fire. A number of Ofudo had been placed on the floor around her as she sat within the circle and prayed to the sacred fire. She was using the fire to call out to five crystals that she and others had placed around Tokyo over the last couple of days in order to prepare for when Siefried arrived. She had never done anything like this before, but with the help of her Grandfather's idea and Sailor Mercury's computer they had managed to set up a spirit trap.   
  
According to the old records within Mercury's computer this was how a lot of higher demons had been sealed away when they became a problem. Mercury had spent the last few days researching the problem and found that only a priestess like Rei could even pull off the trap. Because Siefried was so powerful it would take every bit of the power Sailor Mars possessed to seal the demon's powers away. Then it would fall to the others to destroy him before he ripped the seal on his powers open.   
  
She ignored the destruction around her and focused on the fire. She had never done this as Sailor Mars before, but she realized instantly that it depended on her ability as Rei Hino to pull this off. Sailor Mars had nothing to do with it. At first nothing happened as she slowly entered her meditative trance with her mind focused on the five crystals. Then the fire flared up bigger than it ever had been before and images began to form within its depths.   
  
Behind her Sailor Mercury continued to scan the ritual and wondered what would happen. There had been dozens of description of the ritual in her computer, but there hadn't been one picture to show how anything was done so she wasn't sure what to expect. At the same time she took a minute to change the cold wash cloth she was using to keep Sailor Pluto cooled down. Her own head still hurt from where Hotaru had knocked her out too. She rubbed her head as she worked and tried not to make any noise to disturb her friend. Their whole plan depended on this and if it failed their chances of winning were very small according to her calculations.   
  
They hadn't bothered to look around to see if Rei's grandfather or Yuuichiro were among the rubble. They had very little time to pull this off now that Siefried had come within reach and they figured there would only be one chance at this. They could mourn later, when he was defeated and with Sailor Pluto's help they might even be able to reverse the damage. Sailor Mercury looked up as her computer beeped at her and she tapped a couple of keys. The crystals were beginning to respond to the ritual and it would only be a matter of time before they all activated. Then the real fight would begin.  
  
**********  
  
Everything around them was a blasted pile of rubble or it looked as if someone had taken a flame thrower to ground and tried to do some kind of really weird art project. Their ever step sent up a cloud of grey and black dust that after a few minutes had managed to cover their legs and shoes. By the time they reached the area where Siefried had landed they were extremely dirty and pissed off. Super Sailor Moon wasn't sure, due to all the destruction, but she was fairly positive they were going to be fighting where the Crown Arcade used to be.  
  
They spotted Siefried lounging on the shattered remains of a car about a hundred yards away. It was a little hard to make out details but he appeared to be just waiting for them for some reason. Her eyes narrowed a little as they made their way over to him, but before they could get there Amy Lee, as Sailor Saturn flew over them surrounded in a sphere of red energy. She was closely followed by Ranma, dressed in her Guardian Knight uniform.   
  
"They sure are in a hurry." Venus said.  
  
"They are clean too." Jupiter muttered, glaring at the two as they landed a few yards from Siefried.  
  
"They are going to use those special techniques they've been practicing lately. So lets get into position and let them take care of this and make sure the plan works." Moon said.  
  
"When are you going to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon?" Venus asked.  
  
"Here in a little while." Moon said. "Revealing that transformation to Siefried right now could be a mistake."  
  
"Good idea."  
  
"Ami suggested it to me when we walking over to the shrine." Moon explained. "She said he might know that I've reached that level and that I could trick him if I needed to."  
  
Venus nodded, she was a little dumbfounded.  
  
"What are those two doing?" Jupiter asked as she watched Ami and Ranma talk to Siefried.  
  
"We need to get him into position so that the plan works right." Moon explained.  
  
"Ah, so we better get into position." Venus said. "You go over there Jupiter, I'll take that side. Moon, you stay right here, you are already in position. Then all we need to do is wait for Mars and Mercury to arrive."   
  
"Right!" They chorused and took off for the area they had been assigned by Mercury the day before.  
  
**********  
  
"Well my little pawn, it looks like you got a power up." Siefried said with a grin as he caught sight of Amy's new uniform.  
  
"More than enough to kick your ass Siefried." Amy said with a smirk.   
  
"You are going to go down today monster." Ranma said.  
  
Siefried laughed. "Ah, but I've already won this fight. When all of you are dead I will own this dimension and there isn't a thing that anyone can do about it."  
  
"I won't let you do that." Amy snapped and held the Silence Glaive up. "Even if I have to shove this up your ass to make sure you die."  
  
"Let's just kick his ass and get this over with." Ranma snapped. "He's all hot air anyway."  
  
"I think you're right Ranma." Amy said.   
  
Siefried sighed and rolled off the car. He stood up and glared at the two of the for a second. "As always Guardian you have no sense of style."  
  
"&^%$ you." Amy snapped.   
  
"Well alright, but don't say I never gave you chance to surrender my dear." Siefried said with a shrug.  
  
"Oh, as if I'd ever do that."   
  
"Finally." Ranma said.  
  
"You do realize that the more you struggle the stronger I get, right?" Siefried asked. "I can stand her and fight you all day and just get stronger and stronger now that I have unleashed the wave."  
  
"Shut up!" Amy yelled as she attacked, thrusting the Glaive forward and attempting to impale the monster. "I've had enough of your kind!"  
  
His hand barely moved as she caught the shaft of the Glaive and gave Amy an open palm strike to the chest. This sent her flying back several feet before she twisted in mid air and landed on her feet. Ranma shot forward and attacked at the same time, yelling out her attack phrase. "KNIGHT SLATHER HERALD!"   
  
Siefried just chuckled as he ducked the double bladed attack, grabbed the front of Ranma's out fit and threw him at Amy. "Have a present!"  
  
With a growl Amy started running at Ranma, jumped in the air and used him as a spring board to launch herself at Siefried. "Sorry about this Ranma." She called as she flew by.  
  
"Whatever!" He yelled back as he twisted around and landed on his feet and jumped back into the fight.  
  
"SATURN DIVIDED WORLD!" Amy screamed out as she brought the Silence Glaive around and sent the attack flying at Siefried.  
  
The wave of super condensed air slammed into Siefried's outstretched hands and pushed him back against the decimated car. Making it rip itself to shreds as it passed through. Siefried was unharmed by the time it passed, but Amy used that more of a distraction to run up to him and use his head to launch into the air above him and throw him off balance. The Silence Glaive could channel energy and increase it's power, so when she was about fifty feet in the air she spun around and brought the Glaive around and pointed it at Siefried. She had a second before she shouted out her attack phrase to watch as Ranma sent a Möko Takabisha Double into Siefried's back.  
  
"SILENT NOVA CANNON!"  
  
The blast lit up the sky as it fired out of the Silence Glaive and for several seconds Amy could feel herself being pushed higher into the sky. At the same time the blast of energy, one of her most powerful yet, slammed into Siefried with the force of a bomb. Ranma was lucky enough to realize what she was going to do and got out of the way at the last second. The blast enveloped Siefried and sent a concussion wave out in all directions for several hundred feet.  
  
Amy hovered in the sky as she watched the dust cloud below for any sign of Siefried. She knew for a fact that a blast like that wouldn't do much damage to him, but she wasn't sure what he would do next. Ranma was hovering in the air about a hundred feet away from her, her blue aura humming loud enough to be heard even that far away. She figured she had to be channeling quite a bit of power to be making that much noise, but from what she was sensing she had it under control. Then they heard Siefried's echoing laughter as the cloud of smoke below them was blown away. Siefried hadn't even moved. All he was doing was looking up at Amy with glowing eyes.  
  
"You will have to do a lot better than that to take me down!"  
  
"Man, I figured I'd at least scratch him." Amy muttered. Off in the distance she could feet the build up of power as their plan went into effect and just hoped that he hadn't noticed it.   
  
"How much longer do you think it will take?" Ranma asked as she flew over to her  
  
"Can't you tell?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Just a little longer. Super Sailor Moon is in place for when Mars sets it in motion; all we have to do is make sure Siefried doesn't leave."  
  
"Alright, what about that big blast you were telling us about a couple days ago. That Mega-whatsis thing?"  
  
Amy glanced over at him for a second. "I'll pull that one off next, but I have to hit him with it when he's at his weakest."  
  
"So after his power is sealed?"  
  
"Yeah, and hopefully that will be enough or this is going to be a long fight." Amy said.  
  
"Then let's get down there and kick his ass." Ranma said as she descended to the ground.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Time for round two you jerk!" Ranma yelled out as she landed.  
  
"Yes, lets fight some more." Siefried said with a grin. "Make me power powerful than ever. Every time you throw a punch or even have a dark thought you add to my power. I've already corrupted this entire planet and increased my powers a thousand fold and now you think you are strong enough to defeat me with these little tricks?"  
  
Growling in anger Ranma launches herself forward in a burst of blue light and attacks him. Siefried continues to grin as he easily blocks Ranma's attacks with mini force fields. He wasn't even trying very hard.   
  
From a few yards away Amy watched the fight with her senses spread out to the max. Every time Ranma hit or even just attacked Siefried there was a tiny burst of dark energy that would flare out and enter Ranma's aura. To normal senses it was invisible, but to her they stood out more than they should have. Ranma's basic nature was hard to change so the darkness wasn't having as much of an effect on him. Unlike what had happened to Genma, Shampoo, and even Cologne when they went over the edge and were consumed.  
  
She glanced to the side where Super Sailor Moon was standing. The Scout was glowing with a pure white radiance that gave her an ethereal quality. Off to the sides Sailor Venus and Jupiter were also glowing as they channeled Moon's power. Off in the distance she could feel the crystals still growing in power and knew that it would only be a few minutes before they would be able to put the plan into action.   
  
What had her worried was the fact that Siefried didn't seem to be all that worried about them. From the beginning he had all but ignored the Scouts and she didn't understand why. It was something to worry about later, after they used the crystals to seal his power permanently. Without those he wouldn't be able to get to Sailor Mars and break the seal and they would have the perfect opportunity to take him down.  
  
With a final lunge Ranma back flipped away from Siefried and landed several feet away. Her aura was faring around her, humming loudly, and she did not look happy at all. "The guy is toying with us!"  
  
"Calm down Ranma." Amy said.   
  
"How can anyone be that strong?"  
  
"This is what the Scouts deal with all the time."  
  
"But…" Ranma protested.  
  
"One more attack, this time between the two of us and they should be ready." Amy explained.  
  
"Alright, but we need something to really surprise him."  
  
"How about one of the Ascension of the Dragon God moves?"  
  
Amy nodded. "That's exactly what I was thinking. The school was designed to channel this level of power."  
  
"The final move?"   
  
"No, I think the second to last attack will work. You haven't fully mastered the final attack yet and if you mess that up you will die."  
  
"I can do it." Ranma said stubbornly.   
  
"Only as a last resort Ranma, now let's get ready to pull off that other move."  
  
Siefried, tired of listening to them talk thrust his hand forward and fired a blast of energy at them. "Shut up and fight!"  
  
They dodged out of the way easily enough and shot forward, their Ki flaring about them like mini tornados. The Scouts are enhanced so that they can fight the monsters that tend to show up and now that Ranma and Amy were both Scouts they found that pulling this move off with their enhanced abilities made things quite a bit different. They shot forward at close to eighty miles per hour, criss crossing back and forth across the field as they headed for Siefried. Then at the last possible second, just when Siefried was about to hit them, they took a small side step and blasted by him. Circled around and suddenly changed directions. This caused the long wall of Ki they left behind them to 'whip' around and slam into Siefried.   
  
They yelled out as the two massive forces slammed into each other and sent him flying off his feet. Amy noticed a change in the air and she looked up just as five colored beams of energy shot up all around the city. In a second burst of energy Amy launched herself into the sky right above Siefried and drew in as much power as she could withstand. The Silence Glaive was placed back in her sub space pocket and she began to form a super powered ball of energy between her hands. It quickly went from a bright red to a blinding radiance that lit up the sky around her.   
  
Ranma, still moving at his enhanced speed raced across the field and took up a position about a hundred yards from Siefried. At the same time Super Sailor Moon morphed into Eternal Sailor Moon, with her yellow skirt and lifted the Silver Crystal high into the air above her. Suddenly five colored walls of light slammed into Siefried and formed a dome of pure energy. They could all instantly feel his powers starting to weaken as the dome formed. Inside he staggered around and looked around frantically, though for a split second he glared up at Amy as she brought her hands forward.  
  
"MEGASPHERE BLAST!"  
  
It was Amy's most powerful blast, capable of carving chunks of rock off the moon from the surface of the earth. The beam that came out of her hands formed a pillar of energy ten feet wide and it seemed to scream as it descended towards the dome of energy around Siefried.   
  
Across the field Eternal Sailor Moon brought the crystal forward and fired her own silvery beam of energy. Ranma noticed that the skirts and bows on the Scouts uniforms had turned silver and were glowing brightly. She could even see Ami's glowing high in the sky as he beam fired. She paled as she realized just how much power was being thrown about here. Then the two beams slammed into the dome and Siefried screamed as the atmosphere inside the energy prison seemed to change. Ranma could tell that the guy was getting mad by the black glow that was springing up around him.  
  
"YOU WILL NOT SUCCEED!" Siefried screamed.  
  
As if flexing his muscles, Siefried seemed to expand upward, tripling in size in a matter of seconds. The ground began to shake and rumble, making it hard to stand, and nearly throwing Eternal Sailor Moon off her feet. In that instant Ranma knew he had to do something or the plan was going to fail. She could see it written all over Sailor Venus's face as she struggled to hold the power flow open.   
  
Lit up like a star, Ranma shot forward like a rocket heading right for Siefried. He reached deep within himself and found the power to pull off one final attack. Energy from the three attacks began to arc off the dome and shrike as he drew closer. It hurt at first, but she ignored the pain and managed to force the energy to warp around her. "Ascension of the Dragon God Final Attack!"  
  
The glow around Ranma altered in that instant and for a split second she ceased to be Ranma Saotome Guardian Knight and she turned into a giant ball of pure energy. She could make out the shocked look on Siefried's face within the dome as she changed. Then the ball of energy whipped around, still moving forward a few inches above the ground and formed into a giant winged blue dragon made of energy. Its eyes narrowed in furry as its hundred foot wingspan lifted it above the field of battle and it opened its mouth and fired out a blast blue fire that rivaled Amy's blast by several orders of magnitude.  
  
High in the sky Amy Lee's power gave out and she had just a second to see Ranma transformed into the Dragon God before she drew in her last breath with a smile and fell out of the sky.   
  
Siefried's scream echoed over the city as his body was annihilated out of existence and a giant black cloud of smoke took his place. He wasn't defeated by a long shot, but his plans had just been blown to hell. This defeat set his plans back by years and it would take forever for him to get back this moment. His smoky form swirled about as the continuous blasts ripped him to shreds. Then he saw Amy's body falling out of the sky and he made a smoky dash for it.   
  
The unexpected move took them a second to figure out. Ranma saw Amy falling and pounced on the smoky cloud, firing another blast of blue fire into its back area. Eternal Sailor Moon, gasping for air, stopped firing her energy blast and tired to think of anything to do. Then she saw something that nearly made her faint in shock. Ranma had morphed back into his human form and hovered in the air dressed as the Guardian Knight again. A ball of energy formed in his hand and he seemed to hesitate for just a second before he fired it. Not at Siefried, but at Amy as she fell.  
  
They could only watch as the beam slammed into Amy's chest and blew out her back.  
  
Siefried stopped moving as well as he looked at the now useless body and swirled about in confusion. He hadn't taken that kind of action into consideration when he started this fight. The crystals walls that had formed the dome just a few seconds before realigned itself suddenly and Siefried barely had a chance to defend against the power that slammed into him. With Amy dead he didn't have any way to keep his hold on this dimension. She had been his anchor. Then Eternal Sailor Moon raised her crystal once more and Siefried vanished from existence.  
  
The light from the Silver Crystal continued to grow and in an instant Princess Serenity stood before them and even she was lost to sight as the wave of energy swept across the city righting everything that had gone wrong.   
  
Ranma barely noticed as she landed on the ground by Amy's body and picked her up. She refused to cry and just sat there and rocked her friend's body.   
  
"Ranma." Sailor Venus said as she walked up.  
  
"It was the only way Ranma." Jupiter said.  
  
**********  
  
Epilogue  
  
"Ranma you have to move or you will never be able to get out of this depression! It's been three days already!" Rei yelled at Ranma.  
  
By the time Usagi had finished using the crystal the entire city had been rebuild with not sign that anything had ever happened. The only thing that hadn't changed was that Amy Lee was still dead. Those people killed by Siefried had been restored, but Amy, for some reason hadn't been saved. Even the Sailor Crystal hadn't been able to bring her back from an early death.   
  
Ranma hadn't said a word as he carried her body back to the shrine and sat it in the back yard beside a tree. Then he had sat down beside it and started to wait. He wasn't sure how long it would be, but he was sure that it would happen soon. That had been just three days ago and he hadn't moved an inch in all that time. Except to hold her hand and the girls were beginning to really get worried.  
  
"You have to be strong!" Minako said. "Don't let this consume you."  
  
Ranma didn't blame them, nor did he listen, but they seemed to have forgotten what Amy told them that one day. He hadn't forgotten what she said and knew that if he was patient enough he would be able to see Amy once more. At the same time he watched the crystals on her arms. Something else the girls hadn't noticed after all this time was that the crystals would occasionally pulse with energy for a few seconds. Then go dark once more. He wasn't sure why they were doing it though.   
  
"Will you at least eat something?" Makoto asked shyly as she held out a basket full of food. She was trying to get on his good side.  
  
"No."  
  
"Ranma you can't continue on like this." Ami said from behind her friends as they all stood around where Ranma was sitting on the ground.  
  
"None of you understand."  
  
"We understand that if you don't move on you will only cause yourself even more pain." Usagi said.  
  
He glared at them. "Go away!"  
  
"Please Ranma, you have to at least get some sleep and eat something." Ami said as calmly as she could. She wanted to look at Amy's body and find out why it hadn't started go through all the stages of death that body was supposed to. It hadn't even turned to sparkles of light like Hotaru's body had.  
  
"Amy will be back." Ranma stated with a snarl.  
  
The girls gasped and backed off a few feet to talk. Ranma just smirked and turned back to Amy's body and held her hand once more. It seemed to bring him a feeling of peace when he concentrated on her. He remembered quite clearly what Amy had told them so he wasn't worried. Well not much anyway. After three days he was beginning to think he might have misunderstood what she said.   
  
Then his stomach growled at him when he smelled the food Makoto had brought over, but he ignored it and focused on Amy. She was all that mattered to him right now. He watched as the girls moved away cautiously and headed back into the shrine while giving him worried looks. They hadn't noticed, but Amy's chest and back wound had sealed up the day before and there wasn't a trace of blood anywhere on her clothing anymore. It had been so subtle that at first he hadn't noticed either. For some reason they hadn't even bothered to take a closer look once they realized that she was dead. They still hadn't gotten over the fact that he shot her in the first place.  
  
Inside the shrine Grandpa Hino stood with his grand daughter as they stood at the back door looking over at Ranma. "So he's still here?"  
  
"He's so lost in his grief that he won't eat or sleep."  
  
"That doesn't look like the face of a grieving man, Rei." He said.  
  
"He hides it well."  
  
"I've never met anyone that could hide their grief like that." Rei said as she pulled a broom out of the cupboard beside the door and prepared to do her morning chores.  
  
"Don't get too caught up in that man's life or you will most likely be hurt as well." He said as he turned away and went back into the shrine.   
  
"Aren't you even worried about him?!" She yelled.  
  
"Sure I am, but he has to accept it on his own otherwise the situation will just get worse."  
  
"I've never heard you say anything like that before!" She snapped.  
  
"He will deal with it in his own way. At least he hasn't tried to kill himself yet, now that would definitely make things worse. I've been waiting for him to try something like that."  
  
Rei gasped in shock. She hadn't even considered anything like that.  
  
**********  
  
She walked out of the misty fog like a wraith, her beauty was enough to make even a demon sit up and take notice. Her white hair fluttered in a nonexistent breeze as she walked. Upon her head were the symbols of her station and they told everyone her rank and power level. In her hand she held a pair of crystals. The first was a Sailor Saturn's sailor crystal and the other was a small five pointed ruby. They both shone brightly in the mist that filled the world around them.   
  
How long the woman walked is unknown, but she eventually reached the Gates of Time and stood before them. Kneeling at the base of the gate was Sailor Pluto. She looked as she always did, but the woman could tell that this wasn't the Pluto that had just been at the battle against Siefried. "Pluto." She said in a musical voice.  
  
"How may I serve you Goddess Belldandy."  
  
"The changes made by Siefried to your time line have been corrected. Everything except what is to happen to these two." She said as she held the crystals forth.  
  
"They are supposed to have merged into one." Sailor Pluto said as she gazed at them.  
  
"Amy Lee is a dimensional being. Her soul cold not properly merge with Sailor Saturn to take on her duties."  
  
"Is it possible for Sailor Saturn to be reborn?"  
  
Belldandy smiled. "Yes it is, but there is a price."  
  
Sailor Pluto just nodded and The Goddess of the Present held up the Saturn Crystal and it flared with new life. When the light faded away a baby Hotaru was once again looking out on the world. The baby floated over to Pluto and she took the child in her arms. "What about Uranus and Neptune."  
  
This time Bell frowned a little. "They have not been granted a return as Sailor Scouts, but are to be reborn as normal humans."  
  
The time guardian nodded sadly. "They went to far."  
  
"They have made many mistakes since they regained their powers. We are just correcting what should have already happened. Sailor Uranus and Neptune have already been replaced and will eventually need to be trained. It is up to you to find them and make sure these two do not end up like Haruka and Michiru."  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Now this one will be a little easier to deal with." Bell said as she held up Amy Lee's crystal. "When Saturn was infused into her body her soul became Saturn's crystal, but when she died the two split from each other and this is what her soul became."  
  
"So she is still a Scout?"  
  
"Yes, though she is no longer Sailor Saturn. She will take up a different duty within the ranks of the Scouts."  
  
"She will guard the Glaive and its power?"  
  
"Exactly, but I will only make these changes if you think they will be for the common good."  
  
Sailor Pluto sighed as she remembered back over the centuries to when she had met Amy upon her awakening. "I have changed over the years Goddess, but I think Amy will make a good Guardian so long as Ranma is around to help her."  
  
Once again Belldandy smiled. "Good, then there is only one thing left."   
  
"There is more?"  
  
"Indeed, there is the most important thing of all." She said and held up the crystal. For a brief second baby Hotaru glowed along with Amy's crystal and when it faded the crystal had vanished. "Without the Silence constantly hounding Hotaru she should grow up to be a very different Sailor Scout."  
  
"What about her powers."  
  
"They will alter over time to fit the new Sailor Saturn. It is Amy's punishment to shoulder the burden of the Silence now and to be honest she will be a much better guardian than Saturn was. Guardian Knight will be linked to Amy now, they already have a bond that can be amplified and modified. She needs an anchor to make sure the Silence doesn't overwhelm her like it did Saturn." She explained and vanished as she said. "Now I will go and good luck to you Sailor Pluto."   
  
Pluto didn't say anything for several minutes, but then Hotaru started to cry and she grinned down at the child. "I am not a mother and if I ever see Haruka and Michiru again I will kick their ass for making raise you."  
  
The child blinked at her and barfed all over the front of her fuku.  
  
"I see I'm to be punished as well" Pluto muttered as the mess ruined her chest bow.  
  
**********  
  
Out in the yard Ranma grinned as a wave of energy suddenly swirled around the body and Amy's eyes popped open and she blinked them a few times. "Wha…" She muttered.  
  
"I was beginning to worry." He said as he helped her sit up.  
  
"I died didn't I?" She asked in a dry voice.  
  
"Yeah, I did as you asked."  
  
"I hope you didn't hesitate too much?" She asked.  
  
"A little, but I forced myself to do just like you asked of me."  
  
She looked around and saw that things were back to normal. "It appears that my gamble worked after all."  
  
"Yeah, though you said you would wake up in two days. I was worried."  
  
"Eh, I am immortal, but it takes a while for my body to heal me. So it kind of depends on how much damage I took when I died."  
  
"Ah, I guess I hit you a little hard then."  
  
"You think?" She growled.  
  
"Lets get some food, I'm starving after sitting here for three days." He said as he helped her to her feet.   
  
"Thanks stud." She said with a grin.  
  
"AGHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! GHOST!! DEMON!! AGHAAAAAAAAAAA!!" The Scouts all screamed and passed out right then and there. Except for Usagi, who took a different rout and bolted, running at full speed and disappearing into the distance.  
  
"Was it something I said?" Amy asked.  
  
"They forgot you were immortal." Ranma explained. "I got tired of trying to tell them you would be back."  
  
"You would think they would remember something like that."  
  
"Indeed." Ranma said sagely, with a nod and folded his arms.  
  
"Cut that out!"   
  
"Yes ma'am."  
  
Amy was moving a bit slowly, but she managed to make her way into the shrine. As she stepped inside she came face to face with Grandpa Hino and he was a little pale. "Hiya gramps, what are you up to?"  
  
"I thought you died." He said and pulled out one of his spirit wards.  
  
"I got better." She said with a grin.  
  
"I doubt that."   
  
"Can I get some food first? I'm kind of hungry here you know." She snapped.  
  
He looked at her for a few seconds, and then shrugged as he put the wards back. "Sure, you can talk to our other guest that refuses to leave."  
  
"What other guest?" Ranma asked as he followed after Amy.  
  
"That green haired Amazon."   
  
"Who?" Ranma asked in a rather apprehensive voice.  
  
"I believe her name was Setonna or something like that."   
  
"Setsuna?" Amy asked.  
  
"Yeah, that's the one." Grandpa Hino said happily.  
  
"Oh good, I need to talk to her anyway." Amy said.  
  
Setsuna was sitting in the kitchen reading the paper and nibbling on a piece of toast when they walked in. She glanced at Amy as she asked Ranma to fix them up a huge breakfast and sat down. They stared at each other for several seconds, like two great cats getting ready to pounce on each other. Then Setsuna spoke in a cold tone of voice. "I don't like you."  
  
After drinking some water Amy shrugged and sighed. "I can't help that."  
  
"I could have avoided all this destruction if you had allowed me to remove Saturn when I wanted to."  
  
"Bullshit." Amy said and smirked at the woman. "We are both older than we look Setsuna and you weren't even thinking straight when Saturn attacked."  
  
"I knew exactly what I was doing." She said frostily.  
  
Amy waved her hand. "Yeah right, sure you did. Siefried tied his essence to me when I came here and used that as a tunnel to get into this dimension without being summoned. If I hadn't died he would have been able to possess me and use me for the rest of my life."  
  
"Immortals don't work like that."  
  
"True, but it still would have been hell. So I asked Ranma to kill me as painlessly as he possibly could the other day. That way we could break Siefried's hold on this dimension." Amy explained.  
  
"If we could have stopped Saturn he would never had the chance when I wanted to he would never have gotten that chance."  
  
Amy shrugged as Ranma sat breakfast for the two of them down on the table and they started eating.   
  
"I loath you." Setsuna muttered and walked out of the room, but she didn't quite make it.   
  
Another Sailor Pluto stepped out of a door that appeared out of nowhere and walked over to Setsuna. She handed the baby Hotaru to Setsuna. "It is your job to raise her."  
  
"Hotaru?" Setsuna asked.  
  
"Yes, she has been given another chance now that this crisis is over."  
  
"What else has changed?"  
  
Sailor Pluto looked over at Amy and Ranma for a second. "Those two are now considered part of the Outers."  
  
"&^%$."   
  
"Don't cuss Setsuna, you do have a child in your arms." Amy said.  
  
"What else?" Asked Setsuna.  
  
"Uranus and Neptune have been reborn in a new generation. Haruka and Michiru are no longer Sailor Scouts."  
  
"I figured as much. Anything else?"  
  
"Ranma, you are now Amy's guardian. She is linked to the Silence Glaive now and is charged to use it only as a last resort." Pluto told Ranma.  
  
He shrugged.  
  
"Um, you seem to have puke on your fuku." A slightly horrified Setsuna said.  
  
"Yes, I know." Pluto said flatly.  
  
Suddenly a blond blur flew into the room and tackled Amy out of her chair and sent half the food flying. "AAAAMMMMYYY!"  
  
"I see the Princess is here." Pluto said as she turned back the open door. "Well, I'm going back to the gate. We can talk later."  
  
"Oh yay." Setsuna muttered as her future self vanished back into the time stream.  
  
Baby Hotaru giggled as she watched Amy trying to pry the crying girl off her leg.  
  
"WAHAAAAAAA!" Usagi cried.  
  
"I'm fine! Let go!" Amy snapped.  
  
"I thought you were dead!" Said blond wailed.  
  
"I'm fine!"  
  
Usagi sniffled and looked up at Amy with huge tear filled eyes.  
  
Now Amy was searching around for a crow bar as Ranma started to laugh at her. A few seconds later the rest of the Scouts wandered into the kitchen and watched as Amy tried to crawl away from Usagi. Leaving scratches in the floor as she inched her way across the room and glared at them.  
  
"Help me!"  
  
"WAHAAA!!" Usagi continued to cry.  
  
"I say you should just leave her there." Setsuna said. "She is an Outer Scout now."   
  
"What?" Rei asked.  
  
"Things have changed a bit. It seems that since Amy has been commanded to guard the Silence Glaive and Ranma is her Guardian."  
  
"Oh great, does that mean we are supposed to worry about her going insane?" Rei snapped. "At least we knew Hotaru could handle the thing."  
  
"A little help here!" Amy yelled.  
  
"Little Hotaru has been given a second chance as well." She said as she indicated the baby.  
  
"Ah!" The girls cooed as they surrounded Setsuna to look at the baby as it giggled and watched everything.  
  
Amy glared at Ranma as she finally got Usagi to let go and crawled back into her chair and sighed at the mess they had made. She grabbed a couple of the surviving pieces of toast and ate them as she looked over at the girls. It was quite a surprise that Hotaru had been brought back this early. Though it was quite obvious that changes were already happening to the girl. There was no sign of the black corruption in her aura now. That just left one last thing to do before things could get back to normal.  
  
Ami stepped away form the group and walked over to Amy and looked her over. "How?"  
  
"I told you girls I was immortal."  
  
The blue haired girl pulled out a pair of glasses. "Fascinating. I never really thought you were actually immortal."  
  
Amy shrugged. "I get that a lot, no big deal."  
  
"Still, can I have a blood sample? Hair?" Ami asked, her glasses gleaming.  
  
Sweatdropping, Amy shook her head. "Maybe later."  
  
Ami pulled out her computer. "I want details."  
  
"Let her rest a little Ami." Usagi said as she grabbed a nearby chair and sat down.  
  
"Well alright, but I want to study this."  
  
"Later." Amy snapped and turned to look at Makoto. "Are you feeling better after what Saturn did to you?"  
  
"Yeah, I never expected her to be able to use the Glaive like that. I've always thought it was just a focus for her powers."  
  
Amy held out her hands and let the Silence Glaive appear. "This thing is a very powerful magical weapon. It seems to give the user a high level of skill when they are bonded to it, almost like programming the moves right into the users brain."  
  
"Put that away Amy." Setsuna snapped. "It's to dangerous to just wave around casually."  
  
"It's not as dangerous as you think." Amy said as she put the weapon back in her subspace pocket.  
  
"Aren't you supposed to be transformed to be able to use that?" Minako asked. "Hotaru never pulled it out unless she was transformed."  
  
"I don't transform anymore. I'm back to using my own considerable powers again."  
  
"You still need to train." Setsuna said. "I will make you at least look like a Sailor Scout."  
  
Amy stuck her tongue out at Setsuna. "Nyyyy."  
  
Setsuna glared and the rest of the girls just laughed. Behind Setsuna, when no one was looking Ranma finished off all the food and burped.  
  
**********  
  
The End  
  
Ending Notes – Well there is the end and have to say it took long enough. I developed writers block because of this thing way back in September of 2001 and every time I came back to it after working on my other stories I would get the block again. It serious pissed me off at one point and I posted the first scene of this to my site and said I wasn't going to finish it. Ever. Well I lied, but I probably would never have finished this if I hadn't been prodded into it by Gordon Stevenson at phantomstranger304@hotmail.com  
  
Send him an email you want, he would like to know what people think of the suggestions he gave me to finish this story off.   
  
^__^  
  
A couple of Omake:  
  
Having been completely forgotten about, again, Saturn stomps her foot and glares at all the girls as they argue with each other. "Yo! Are we fighting or what?!"  
  
She wanted to beat her head against a tree. Every time she fought against someone they would all just start talking to each other and completely for get they were in the middle of a fight.   
  
"Arghaaa!!!" She screamed.  
  
She tapped her foot, but they still weren't paying attention. So she pulled out her Sailor Scout cell phone and called Chibi-Usa. At least she would pay attention to her without being distracted.  
  
"Hi Usa!"  
  
"Yeah, can you believe they forgot we were in the middle of a fight? I could blow them away and they would never notice it."  
  
"It sucks!"  
  
"You want what?"  
  
"Ice Cream? Now?"  
  
"But I'm in the middle of a fight."  
  
"I don't care if they are ignoring me, what thing to ask for at time like this?!"  
  
"Oh alright, I'll get you some."  
  
"Wait, they seem to be done talking."  
  
"They are looking at me with a weird glint in their eyes." Saturn fidgeted a little and looked away from them, she took a second to adjust her skirt and flick a bit of dust off the Silence Glaive.  
  
"What do you think they are talking about?"  
  
"Really? In the middle of a fight?"  
  
"Well that does kind of fit doesn't it?"  
  
"Well have to go, they seem to be ready to fight again. Bye Bye!" She said happily and pretended to kiss the phone and giggled a little. Then she turned to the Scouts and glared at them. "PREPARE TO DIE!"   
  
**********  
  
Sayuri and Yuka were sitting in Sayuri's bedroom listening to music when they felt something strange happening. Sayuri, with the dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail looked over at her friend and gasped. "You're glowing!"  
  
"What!" Yuka screamed and looked at her friend. "Aghaaa! So are you!"  
  
"AGHAAAA!!!" They screamed and started running around the room, tripping over piles of clothes, and rebounding off the walls.  
  
"What the hell is that thing on your forehead?!" Sayuri asked as she saw the symbol of Neptune, somehow knowing what it was, etching itself on her friends head.  
  
"There's one on your head too!"  
  
"AGHAAAA!!!"  
  
"I DON'T WANT TO BE A FREAK!"  
  
"I'M TO YOUNG TO DIE!"  
  
"RANMA THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"   
  
^__^;; 


End file.
